Name: Pindi Chana-Authentic Punjabi Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 4 cups/28 oz/800 gms White chickpeas/chana/garbanzo beans (soaked overnight); 4 cups water; salt to taste-I used approx 3 tsp salt; 4 Brown cardamoms/Moti Elaichi/Badi Elaichi; 10 cloves/laung; 1 large cinnamon stick/dalchini; 1 Tea bag or 1 tsp loose tea leaves; 2 tbsp Dry Pomegranate seeds/Sookha Anardana; 2 tbsp Cumin seeds/jeera; 4 tbsp Coriander Powder/Dhania Powder; 2 1/2 tsp Black Pepper powder/Kali mirch powder; 2 tsp Garam masala powder; 1 1/2 tbsp Dry mango Powder/Amchur; 6-8 Green chilies (slit in half); 2 inch Piece of ginger/15 gms (peeled and cut into slivers or thin strips); 2 medium potatoes (optional); 1 tsp oil (for Air Fried potatoes); 1/2 tsp salt (for Air Fried potatoes); 1/2 cup ghee (use coconut oil for vegan option); 1/4 cup any odorless oil; lemons cut into wedges; Onion sliced

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

An authentic Punjabi recipe of chole where chickpeas are flavored with pomegranate seeds and dry spices. No onion,garlic,tomatoes, turmeric or Red chili powder are used. The Color is dark brown/black from the dry spices.

Pindi Choley is different from Chana masala which is usually made in the traditional onion,ginger, garlic and tomato curry base. The chana/chole is dry to semi dry with spices coating every piece. I love adding potatoes, Traditionally the potatoes are fried and added,I have air fried them and they tasted perfect. if you don’t have an air fryer, boil the potatoes, cut into wedges and pan fry them. I always pan fried potatoes till I got my Air fryer.

The aim is to go for a nice dark color and to achieve that- the tea bag is added. It does not impact the taste of the chana/chole. Since I have a steel tea strainer, I used loose tea leaves. You can use a muslin cloth and make a bouquet garnis with the whole spices. Or if you don’t have a tea strainer or muslin cloth, put the whole spices directly to cook with the chickpeas. Remove the spices before consumption.Turmeric,tomatoes and red chili powder give a reddish/yellowish color to all dishes, since we are going for a dark color, we avoid all these ingredients.

These No onion garlic Pindi chole are perfect for festivals and in my opinion since there is no peeling and frying of onions and garlic this dish comes together very quickly. Anardana/pomegranate seeds are an important ingredient in this recipe both for color and texture and also adds a tang to the dish. If Anardana/pomegranate seeds are not available, increase the quantity of Amchur/Dry mango powder.

These Pindi chole/chana goes really well with Instant Pancake Mix Bhaturas and moms famous Dahi Gujiyas. If you are watching your calories then do try out these quick and easy Fat Free Dahi Vadas made in the microwave in minutes.

Moving on to the recipe, here is the written recipe, followed by the step by step pictorial one-

Pindi Chana-Authentic Punjabi Recipe

Aanchal Gupta

An authentic Punjabi recipe of chole where chickpeas are flavored with pomegranate and dry spices. No onion,garlic,tomatoes or turmeric are used. The Color is dark/black from the dry spices and tea leaves used.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings -9 cups

Ingredients

4 cups/28 oz/800 gms White chickpeas/chana/garbanzo beans soaked overnight
4 cups water
salt to taste-I used approx 3 tsp salt
4 Brown cardamoms/Moti Elaichi/Badi Elaichi
10 cloves/laung
1 large cinnamon stick/dalchini
1 Tea bag or 1 tsp loose tea leaves

For roasting and grinding

2 tbsp Dry Pomegranate seeds/Sookha Anardana
2 tbsp Cumin seeds/jeera

Other spices for mixing

4 tbsp Coriander Powder/Dhania Powder
2 1/2 tsp Black Pepper powder/Kali mirch powder
2 tsp Garam masala powder
1 1/2 tbsp Dry mango Powder/Amchur
6-8 Green chilies slit in half
2 inch Piece of ginger/15 gms peeled and cut into slivers or thin strips
2 medium potatoes optional
1 tsp oil for Air Fried potatoes
1/2 tsp salt for Air Fried potatoes
1/2 cup ghee use coconut oil for vegan option
1/4 cup any odorless oil

for garnish

lemons cut into wedges
Onion sliced

Instructions

In pressure cooker/Instant pot put chickpeas/chana water,salt brown cardamoms,cinnamon,cloves and tea bag and bring to full pressure on high heat. Give one whistle. Now reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook for 7 minutes.
If using Instant Pot,choose Bean/chili option or pressure cook for 15 minutes
Remove from heat and let pressure release naturally
Meanwhile roast dry pomegranate seeds and cumin on a pan over medium heat. When cumin seeds turn light brown, remove from heat,cool and grind to a powder.
Open Pressure cooker and transfer the chickpeas/chana into a strainer/colander. Strain all the liquid and reserve. We will use the liquid later.
To the chickpeas/chana,add pomegranate cumin powder,coriander,black pepper, garam masala and dry mango powder/amchur. Toss well till chickpeas are evenly coated with all the spices.
Put slit green chilies and ginger slices on top of the chickpeas/chana
Optional Step-Cut potatoes into wedges.Apply oil and salt.
Preheat Air Fryer at 370 for 5 minutes. Layer potatoes in a single layer and air fry for 5 minutes. Spray with oil and flip and air fry again for 5 minutes, total air fry time is 10 minutes
In a small pan, heat ghee(coconut oil for vegans) and oil together till it starts smoking. Pour this smoking ghee/oil evenly over the chickpeas/chana. We want the ginger and green chilies to sizzle with the smoking ghee/oil.
In a large pan/karahi/pressure cooker-put chickpeas,potatoes(optional)reserved liquid and cook till liquid dries up and spices have blended in. If using potatoes, the potatoes will get coated with spices. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Keep stirring and mixing.
Garnish with onions, lemons and serve with nan or rotis

Notes

If you use a tea bag for color, the tea bag can sometimes fall apart with the pressure inside the pressure cooker/instant pot. You can steep the tea bag in 1/2 cup of boiling water and add that as an option. Cooking in a cast iron pan also gives a dark color to the choley. It is important to smoke the ghee as that helps in sizzling the ginger, green chilies and the spices. The original recipe does call for equal amounts of ghee and oil,half cup each. I tried to reduce the calories by using 1/4 cup oil. It worked just fine without being overly greasy.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Rinse and soak chickpeas/chana/garbanzo beans overnight

Roast pomegranate/anardana seeds and cumin/jeera on a pan

till cumin seeds turns slightly dark. Cool and grind into a powder(I used a coffee grinder)

Rinse chickpeas. Add whole spices like brown cardamoms

cloves,cinnamon and loose tea leaves in a tea strainer like I have done or place in a muslin cloth or just directly with the chick peas

Add water,salt and pressure cook on high heat. Give one whistle. Now reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook for 7 minutes

Let pressure release naturally

if using an Instant Pot, choose Bean/chili option or pressure cook for 15 minutes

Open Pressure cooker and transfer the chickpeas/chana into a strainer/colander. Strain the liquid and reserve. We will use the liquid later.
To the chickpeas/chana,add pomegranate cumin powder,coriander,black pepper, garam masala and dry mango powder/amchur

Toss well till chickpeas are evenly coated with all the spices

Place the slit green chilies and ginger on top of the chickpeas/chana

Optional step-Add potato wedges

Cut 2 potatoes into wedges. Rub salt and oil all over the wedges

Preheat Air fryer at 370 F for 5 minutes and place the wedges in Air fryer and air fry at 370 F for 5 minutes

Spray the wedges, flip them and air fry again at 370 F for 5 minutes(total 10 minutes)

In a pan, bring oil and ghee(use only oil for a vegans) to heat till it starts SMOKING

Pour SMOKING hot ghee/oil combo on top of the ginger/green chili and chickpeas

(We want to sizzle the ginger, green chilies and the spices)

In a large pan/karahi/pressure cooker/Instant Pot-put chickpeas, potatoes(optional),reserved liquid and cook till liquid dries up and spices have blended in.

If using potatoes, the potatoes will get coated with spices. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Keep stirring and mixing.