Punjabi Chole Recipe
When it comes to frugality, a Punjabi chole or an Indian chickpea curry is right up there, a cheap meal that packs flavours well above its "pay grade"!
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 402kcal
Ingredients
- 175 g Dried Chickpeas 1 Cup
- 1 teaspoon Salt Plus extra to taste
- 2 Teabags
- 2 Dried Red Chillies
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 2 Bay Leaves
- Ginger Thumb Sized Piece
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Medium Onion 150g
- 2 Small-Medium Tomatoes 250g
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Dried Pomegranate Seeds
- ½ teaspoon Ajwain Seeds
- 3 Green Cardamom Pods
- 2 Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida
- 2 Green Chilli Peppers
- 12 Curry Leaves
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- ½ teaspoon Amchur
- ½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric
- 2 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas in water overnight.
- Place the chickpeas in a pan with 1 litre (4 cups) of water, a teaspoon of salt, add the tea bags, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 50-60 minutes.Skim off any foam that forms on the water during the initial boil phase.
- Cut the onion into a dice as finely as you can.
- Mash the garlic cloves.
- Grate the ginger.
- Cut the tomatoes into a 1cm (½") dice.
- Cut the green chillies in half lengthways.
- Heat a 28cm or 11" frying pan over a high heat.When it's hot, add the cumin, coriander, pomegranate and ajwain seeds, then throw in the cardamom pods and cloves, and toast for 1 minute, keeping them moving at all times
- Remove the seeds and allow to cool for 3 or 4 minutes, then blitz to a fine powder.
- Remove the dried chillies, tea bags, bay leaves and cinnamon stick from the pan with the chickpeas and discard the tea bags, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
- Drain the chickpeas, reserving around 250ml (1 cup) of the cooking liquid.
- Mash 3 or 4 tablespoons of the hot chickpeas into a paste.
- Chop the now-cooked dried red chillies as finely as you can. If you want to reduce the heat in the recipe, discard these chillies instead.
- Heat the pan you toasted the spices in over a medium-high heat, and when it's hot, add the oil.
- Throw in the curry leaves, green chillies and asafoetida and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes until the edges start to colour up.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes, mashed chickpeas, chopped red chilli, turmeric, amchur, chilli powder and the spice mix we created earlier and 125ml (half a cup) of the chickpea cooking liquid.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Halfway through this, have a taste for salt and add more as necessary.
- Add the chickpeas and as much cooking liquid as you need to get the right texture and cook for a final 5-7 minutes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Sodium: 1492mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 16g
