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!