Pindi Chana is among one the most famous recipes that always finds a place in main course menu in any north Indian restaurant.This recipe originally belongs to a place called Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan and hence known as Pindi Chana. It is another version of Chick pea curry which is dry in texture and is coated with some fresh spices.
I am posting after many days as I was busy fighting with the seasonal cough and cold which had affected my entire family. Since a week I was only making soups , watery lentils or Chicken broth along with some simple home made food. Yesterday, my son and husband told me that they want some change and they are bored of that simple food. They demanded me to make something which can make their taste buds tickle.
I know they love chickpea and Punjabi Choley bhaturey is their first choice when they want tongue tickling food, but I wanted to avoid frying. My second choice was Pindi chana as I know my family always love to have it whenever we go to any Indian restaurant.
Making Pindi Chana is very simple and easy. I prefer to make fresh masala or curry powder for this recipe, but if you want you can try store bought chana masala also. To make the spice powder, some whole spices are dry roasted and then powdered to make the masala. The brown color of this curry is because of the tea leaves which we put in the chickpeas while boiling. Tea leaves are first put in a muslin cloth and then the cloth is tied to make a pouch. This pouch is placed in the pressure cooker along with chickpeas while boiling. The tea leaves make the color of chickpeas dark brown.
Pindi Chana are served hot and taste best with Pooris or Rotis or Naan. I wanted to keep things little simple, so I served it with plain Parathas , but you can also have it with hot steaming rice. Here is the recipe of Pindi Chana.
- 2 cups Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans
- 1 big sliced Onion
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 big tomato chopped
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 tsp Kasuri methi powder
- 2 tsp tea leaves
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 cinnamon stick ( 1 inch each)
- 1/2 tsp Ajwain or carom seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 6-7 black peppercorns
- 5-6 cloves
- A pinch nutmeg
- 1 whole red chilli
- 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
- 3-4 green cardamom
- 2 Black cardamom
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Red chili powder ( or Paprika)
- 1 tsp Anardana or Pomegranate powder
- a pinch Hing/ Asafoetida
- to taste Salt
- 1 tsp Black salt
- Wash and soak the chickpeas in water over night or for about 6 hours
- In a pressure cooker add the chana or chickpeas and tea bag add some water and salt. Put the tea leaves in a muslin cloth and tie it. place this small pouch inside the cooker and boil the chickpeas till they are soft and tender.
- Mean while , prepare the fresh spice powder or garam masala for making the curry. Dry roast the cumin seeds, black pepper, cloves cardamoms, fennel seeds, carom seeds , red chili and cinnamon. let the spices cool down and then grind them to make a fine powder.
- Heat oil in a pan and add hing and sliced onions. Fry the onions till they turn brown. Now add ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw aroma goes.
- Now add turmeric powder and chopped tomatoes and fry this till tomatoes are soft. Add the prepared spice powder or garam masala and cook for a while.
- Put black salt and Anardana powder into the pan and mix well. Make sure the flame is low, other wise the spices will burn. Add the chickpeas along with its water and mix well. Cover with lid and cook till all the spices start mixing well with the chickpeas. This should take atleast 10 minutes on medium flame.
- After 10 minutes open the lid and add kasuri methi, chopped mint, chopped coriander, cook this for another 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves and lime juice and serve hot with rice, Parathas , pooris or naan. They taste awesome.
1. The amount of chickpeas mentioned in the recipe is for raw chickpeas.
2. The amount of spices can be reduced or increased according to personal choice. If you like more spicy food you can increase the spices little bit and vice versa.
3. In place of tying the ta leaves in a cloth you can also use tea bags to bring color to the recipe.
4. If you think that the curry is more dry, you can add little amount of water to make little gravy.
A recipe to be treasured! So beautifully done, Swati. I have got anardana powder and was wondering how to use it in a dish. This seems to be the perfect place t start!
Loved it Swati! Delicious and comforting.
lipsmacking and delicious chole.. loved it totally!!
I’m American new to cooking traditional Indian food. My husband is from Mumbai so I’ve been learning to make dishes beyond butter chicken, tikka masala and biryani. I’ve come to love Chana Masala, so I want to give this a try. Should I use black or green tea? Thank you.
Black tea