Chole masala / Chana masala

Chole bhature is a very famous dish from the North of India. Bhaturas are huge puris which occupy the whole plate and is fun to have with chole. Mostly bhaturas are made with maida and if you want to avoid it, turn you can make wheat puris or even parathas or rotis and have chole with it.

This recipe uses chole masala which is made with minimum ingredients. Please feel free to replace it with store-bought masala.

Servings - 4

Preparation time - 10 mins + soaking time of 8 hrs

Cooking time - 30 mins

Total time - about 9 hrs

Ingredients

Chole / Kabuli chana - 1 cup

Cinnamon - ½ inch

Cloves - 2

Cardamom - 1

Bay leaf - 1

Onions - 2

Tomatoes - 2

Ginger garlic paste - ½ tsp

Green chillies - 2

Turmeric powder - ½ tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Cumin coriander powder / cumin powder - ½ tsp

Coriander leaves for garnish

Sugar - ⅓ tsp

Salt to taste

A piece of muslin cloth

For masala powder -

Bay leaf - 1

Cinnamon - 1 inch

Cloves - 2

Cardamom - 4

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Red chilli - 1

Steps to prepare

1. Soak chole overnight or for 7 to 8 hrs in sufficient water.

2. Use the muslin cloth to tie ½ inch cinnamon, 2 cloves, cardamoms and 1 bay leaf.

3. Pressure cook chole with 2 to 3 cups of water along with tied muslin cloth.

4. For making chole masala powder, add all ingredients in a pan and roast until nice aroma comes. Ensure it doesn't burn while roasting. Cool it down and grind well.

5. For making the puree, add oil in a pan and when it heats up, add onions, ginger garlic paste and saute until onions soften a bit.

6. Add tomatoes and continue to saute until tomatoes begin to turn soft. Cool down the mixture.

7. Grind the above mixture smooth along with little cooked chole.

8. Now in a pan, add oil and cumin seeds. When oil heats up, add onion tomato puree to it. Be careful as it splutters a lot.

9. Add all masalas - turmeric, chili powder, cumin coriander powder, salt, sugar, ground chole masala or store-bought. Keep mixing.

10. Add slit green chillies, now add cooked chole along with the water it's cooked in.

11. Adjust water and spices, boil for about 5 minutes. 

12. Sprinkle coriander leaves and chole masala is ready to serve with hot puris.

Tips

1. Store-bought masala has many ingredients but the one prepared here is a shortcut which will give the same flavour.

2. This recipe makes a medium spicy gravy, you can increase spices if you desire.

3. You can add the spices directly to cooker along with chole, but tying in a cloth helps to easily remove it after cooking.