Choley Masala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas
Chole Masala / Curried Spicy Chickpeas is a quintessential recipe from the Indian sub continent, one of the most popular perhaps. Every house has it's own recipe, and you can keep them as spicy or light as you like. This is my mums. Most of her recipes, like this one, are based on andaaz, or eyeballing of ingredients. A little of this, a pinch of that, toss something in.
Ingredients
Chana Masala
- 500 g chola/dried chickpeas soaked overnight
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 tsp whole black pepper
- 2-3 black cardamom
- Salt to taste
- 1-2 onions finely sliced
- 1" piece ginger finely chopped
- 2-3 green chillies finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 3 tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 tsp chana masala
Garnish
- Ginger jullienes,green chilies, sliced onions, fresh coriander, lime
Instructions
- Drain the overnight soaked chickpeas, wash well, and place in pressure cooker with enough water to cover them, about an inch over.
- Cook under pressure on simmer for a 45 minutes to an hour until soft and almost double in size.
- Meanwhile, add 1 tbsp mustard oil to a heavy bottom wok/kadhai.
- Add the sliced onions and fry until golden brown. Make sure they don't get dark brown or the flavour gets bitter.
- Add the ginger, green chilies or red chili powder if using, or both, chana masala and tomatoes.
- Saute over low heat until the tomatoes are mushy soft and leave oil.
- Add the cooked soft chickpeas and toss well to mix in masala, reserving the liquid for later. Add as much of the liquid as you like, stir well, adjust seasoning, turn the whole prep back into the cooker and give the chickpeas one more pressure. This will allow the spices/masalas to be absorbed by the chickpeas.
- Serve with naaan or rice. Or like me, serve in a bowl with a squeeze of lime juice, sliced onions, ginger, fresh coriander and some sneaked in crispies!