Amritsari Chole recipe | How to make Chana Masala (white chickpeas)
Chana masala or Amritsari chole recipe is one of the most popular and mouth-watering spicy dishes which belongs from north India and is enjoyed all over in India. The main ingredient of this exotic Indian curry is the Kabuli chana or white chickpeas. This chole recipe tastes delicious and is demanded by everyone on all occasions, especially by kids.
Chana masala recipe
There are many variations in making chana masala. The exotic taste of chole comes from the roasted and powdered Indian spices. To make chana masala, firstly, rinse the Kabuli chana under running water and soak it overnight so that chickpeas get doubled in size. Later, we will pressure cook the chana’s until they are cooked nicely and turns soft. To get the dark coloured choles’s, traditionally dried gooseberries were added but if you don’t have, you can add a tea bag or can make potli of cotton cloth with a tsp of tea leaves.
Furthermore, I would highlight some important points to get the authentic taste of chole.
- While pressure cooking the Kabuli chana, I always prefer to add baking soda as it makes chana soft and light to digest.
- Use dries amla’s or Indian gooseberries to give chole a dark colour and to add a little sour and tangy taste.
- If you don’t have amla or is not available in your city, you can add a tea bag for the colour and dried pomegranate seeds or Anar dana for getting the sour taste.
- The spicy taste and the aroma of the chole masala come from chole masala. Either freshly roasted and grounded Indian spices or store-bought chole masala.
This exotic chana masala is served hot with Butter naan, kulcha’s, Bhatura or with rice.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments. I love to hear from you.
If you enjoy this hearty recipe, be sure to check out my Blog for more!
Amritsari Chole Recipe Card
Kala chana masala recipe
Materials
- 1 Cup Black chickpeas or kala chana soaked overnight or minimum of 8 hours
- 2 to 3 cardamom pods slightly crushed
- 1-inch cinnamon stick
- 2 to 3 Bay leaves/ Tej patta
- 2 cloves
- 1 tsp Carom seeds/ Ajwain
- 1 tsp Black peppercorns
- 2 to 3 tbsp mustard oil
- 2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
- 2 medium onions finely chopped
- 1-inch ginger grated
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves grated or paste
- 2 large tomatoes finely chopped or paste
- 2 green chillies vertically slit
- Few Ginger julienne
- ½ tsp haldi/turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Dry mango powder amchur powder
- 1 tbsp Jeera powder
- salt per taste
- 1 tsp kasuri methi
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 2 to 3 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaves
For tempering chana masala:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 Green chillies vertically slit
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Jeera powder
Instructions
Soaking and pressure cooking kala chana:
- Rinse the overnight soaked chana under running water and put the chana's in the pressure cooker and 1 glass water.
- Add cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, carrom seeds, black peppercorns, cloves and bay leaves in the cooker.
- Close the lid and pressure cook the chana in the cooker for 3 to 4 whistles, until the chana turns soft.
- When the pressure releases naturally, remove the lid and check if chana can be mashed easily with the spoon or fingers.
For making kala chana masala:
- Heat the mustard oil in a pan or kadhai on a medium-low flame and add a tbsp of jeera and saute till jeera splutters.
- Now, add finely chopped onions and stir it till it turns golden brown in colour and looks translucent.
- Then, add grated or finely chopped ginger garlic and saute till the raw smell of garlic goes away.
- Add finely chopped tomatoes or tomato pulp in the kadhai and mix all the ingredients nicely.
- Cover and let the tomatoes simmer for 5 mins or till it turns soft
- Then, add vertically slitted green chillies and ginger julienne and give it a nice mix.
- Now, add haldi, jeera powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, amchur powder and salt per taste in the kadhai.
- Mix all the ingredients nicely and sprinkle some tbsp of water in the kadhai and cook the dry spices for a few minutes.
- After a couple of minutes, masala is cooked well and turns aromatic.
- Now, add cooked chana along with its stock and mix the chana along with onion tomato masala nicely.
- Lastly, add kasuri methi and garam masala and stir it nicely. Add water to achieve desired consistency.
- Garnish it with freshly chopped coriander leaves or stems and give it a nice mix.
- Cover and cook the chana masala for 5 to 10 minutes and allow it to simmer on the medium-low flame till you get a perfect consistency.
- Finally, kala chana masala is ready to be served hot with puri, paratha or jeera rice.
Video
Step by step Instructions:
Soaking and pressure cooking Kabuli chana:
- Place 1 bowl of white chickpeas (chana) in a colander and rinse the chana under running water.
- Put the rinsed chana in a large bowl with enough quantity of water as chana rise in size after soaking for the longer duration of around 8 – 9 hrs.
- Rinse the soaked chana again under running water and put the chana’s in the pressure cooker, with the pinch of salt and baking soda.
- Also, to give chana the dark colour and the sour taste to chole’s, add tea leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, cumin seeds and bay leaf in the cooker.
- Make a small potli of these ingredients and then place it in the cooker.
- Pressure cook the chana in the cooker for 8 to 10 whistles, until the chole turns soft and can be mashed easily with the spoon or fingers.
For making Chana masala/Chole:
- Heat the oil in a pan or kadhai on a medium-low flame and add a tbsp of jeera and 1 bay leaf in the kadhai and saute till jeera splutters.
- Now, add finely chopped onions and stir it till it turns golden brown in colour and looks translucent.
- Then, add grated ginger garlic and chopped green chillies and saute till raw smell of garlic goes away.
- Add finely chopped tomatoes in the kadhai and mix all the ingredients nicely.
- Cover and cook tomatoes till it turns soft and push the onion and tomatoes on the corner of the pan with the spatula, making space in the centre of kadhai.
- Now, add haldi, coriander powder, red chilli powder, kasuri methi and salt per taste in the centre of the pan.
- Mix all the ingredients nicely and sprinkle some tbsp of water in the kadhai and cook the dry spices for few minutes.
- After 2 minutes, add boiled and mashed potato in the kadhai and give it a nice mix. Mashed potato makes the gravy little thick of chole masala.
- Now, add cooked chole along with its water and remove the potli from the cooker and set aside. Mix the chole along with onion tomato masala nicely.
- Cover and cook the chole for 15 minutes and allow it to simmer on the medium-low flame till you get a perfect consistency.
- Finally, add amchur powder and garam masala and stir it nicely.
- Garnish it with freshly chopped coriander leaves and chana masala or Amritsari chole is ready to be served.
Important Tips for making Chole:
- If you are in a hurry and do not have time to soak chickpeas, you can use canned chickpeas. It will save you time.
- You can also add store-bought Chole masala of any good brand.
- Do not use the spices cooked in potli, it will ruin the taste.
- Serve hot Amritsari chole gravy with Kulcha, Butter naan, Bhature along with thin slices of onions, tomatoes and lemon wedges.
- It also tastes delightful with jeera rice or normal steamed rice.
Finally, I would like to share my other veg Curry recipes from my blog. This includes Dum aloo recipe, Paneer kadhai recipe, Mushroom kadhai gravy recipe, Matar Jhol recipe, spicy misal pav recipe, matar ke chole recipe, etc. Also, go through our Indian bread section for a variety of rotis like Butter naan recipe, palak paratha recipe, kachori recipes and thalipeeth recipe.
In addition to this, do visit my other recipes collection from my blog like Main course collection, Breakfast collection, Desserts collection, etc.
Did you try this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #fop.flavoursonplate.
