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Punjabi Chola
March 10th, 2008 filed under Dal (Lentils), Vegan
Punjabi cholas are the best compliment with baturas. The combination is known as chola battura. This is a mouth-watering dish.
Serves 2 to 4.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chickpeas (Garbanzo beans, Kabuli chana)
- 2 tea bags
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 tablespoon basen (Gram flour)
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 green chili
- 1 tablespoon shredded ginger
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder (dhania)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt, adjust to the taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black salt
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon amchoor (Mango powder)
For garnish:
- 1 tablespoon shredded ginger
- 1 green chili sliced long ways
Method:
- Boil 5 cups of water with tea bags; after tea comes to boil turn down the heat to medium low.
- Let it boil for another 2 to 3 minutes. Take out the tea bags and keep aside.
- Wash chickpeas well and soak in tea water for about 8 hours. Chickpeas after soaking will become about 2 1/2 times the volume of the original.
- In pressure cooker add chickpeas with the water they were soaked in, plus 2 more cups of water. Close the cooker and put the pressure on.
- Cook on medium high heat.
- As pressure cooker starts steaming turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Close the heat and wait until steam has stopped before opening the pressure cooker. Chickpeas should be soft and tender.
- Blend the tomatoes, ginger and green chili to make paste.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away oil is ready. Add cumin seeds, and as the cumin seeds crack add basen stir-fry until basen is light gold brown.
- Next add tomato paste, coriander powder, and black pepper. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the oil is separating from the mixture and tomato mixture should be about half in volume.
- Add spice mix, salt, garam masala, and mango powder to chickpeas.
- While mixing, lightly mash the chickpeas. Adjust salt, pepper, and sourness to your taste.
- Cook on medium high heat. After cholas come to boil lower the heat to medium low and put the lid on.
- Cholas are ready to eat in as little as ten minutes, but for best taste let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 or 6 minutes.
- Garnish cholas with shredded ginger and sliced green chili.
thanks manjula anunty , your rasgulla recipe is great, nw i can give surprice to my husband , i m sure my husband will like it.
Hello Manjula Auntie,
I recently chanced upon your web site while looking for some recipes. I just love your video presentations. They are so nicely hosted and edited. When you see what you are making, it makes cooking so much easier. I have already tried Toor Dal and Punjabi Chhole recipes and both came out brilliant.
Thank you again and Happy Mother’s Day!
Preeti
Hello-
I love your recipes, however I don’t have a pressure cooker. How can I make these recipes or at least understand how long to cook them…can you tell me please? I use my best judgement but I don’t always feel confident since some of the dishes I have no reference point for having never eaten them. Please advise. thank you
Heather
I went to make this recipe the other night and discovered my pressure cooker had gotten rusty from long disuse. Wanting to get cooking rather than scrubbing rust, I just used a regular pot. Boiling the cholas covered at a rapid boil on high heat, they were ready to go into the tomato/chili/ginger mixture in about an hour. I prefer the longer final cooking time of the finished dish recommended above (30 minutes) to help the flavors blend more, so that gives the cholas even more cooking time. (I had also soaked my cholas for 24 hours rather than 8 (in the fridge), so that may have cut down on cooking time as well.)
In any case, pressure cookers cut down on cooking time by about 70%, but I can’t think of any case where they are absolutely necessary for satisfactory results, provided you adjust your cooking time accordingly.
Another modification I made: the local Indian grocery store was out of amchoor (mango powder), which is used to add a hint of sourness to the dish, so I substituted it with nimboo sat (citric acid) to give that tart flavor, and it worked great. I also added a pinch of hing to the oil with the jeera, just because I like the taste. As Manjula says, you are the chef in your own kitchen, and everyone has their own preferences.
If amchoor is unavailable, you can also use lemon juice (about 1/2 tablespoon to start, and add a little more if you want more tartness).
Thank you for your wonderful recipes. My mother passed away when I was 7 and I have no other Indian relatives in Canada, so I never learned to cook Indian food. Your recipes are similar to my mom’s and reminds me so much of her, esp the Chola recipe, which we always called Channa. She was a great cook and even though I was young and not very fond of Indian food at the time, my most cherished memories are cooking with her. I have grown up to love Indian food and your recipes are so easy to follow
thanks again
love
Naseem
I am not Indian in ethnicity, but I love the food and as someone who enjoys mostly vegetarian meals it is the most flavorful option. I would love to try this recipe. It calls for 2 tea bags…is that black tea? Is there are brand of tea that could be easily found in an Indian Market that you would recommend. I am looking forward to trying your naan recipe. Thank you for any information you can provide to clarify.
Hi Liz,
any plain tea bgas will work. I use lipton tea bags.
your recipes are simply wonderful..i notice u don’t use onions much..a possible reason they turn out simply wonderful ,and could be eaten without much worry even after keeping it overnight in the fridge.
Re: not using onions – see answer #1 in the FAQ section.
Amazing recipe! Loved it
Your recipes are simply amazing and easy to follow.I have learnt a lot of vegetarian recipes thanks to you.
I was looking for a recipe to cook bengal gram or kala chana.Can you post one please?
Thank You.
Synuae
thanx a lot..this recipe is really awesome and other recipies are also very good.
Aunty
Your recipies are awesome…especially for people who do not like onions in dishes…..
Your suggestion of adding gramflour in channa is really very good ….just like what you eat in the halwai shop…
Thanks Again
Anuradha