"Chhole" - South Indian style

I have made "chhole" with this kind of masala often enough, and also whenever I have cooked these beans in Kerala. Recently, my friend Anita, asked me for this recipe. This "chhole" has a coconut based masala and tastes similar to the sort we get in restaurants when we go down South.

Serves 4 to 6 persons

Soaking time 6 to 8 hours

Cooking time 45minutes

Ingredients

1. "Chhole" or white "chana" or dried garbanzo beans or chick peas - 1 cup

2. Onions sliced - 1/2 cup

3. Onion chopped roughly - 1/2 cup

4. Ginger - 1/2 " piece

5. Garlic flakes - 6 to 8

6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

7. Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon

8. Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon

9. Green chillies - 2 or 3

10. Cumin or jeera - 1/4 teaspoon

11. Fennel seeds or "saunf"- 1/4 teaspoon

12. Coconut grated - 1/2 cup

13. Tamarind water - 1/2 cup (from 1/2 a lime-sized ball)

14. Oil - 2 tablespoons

15. Salt to taste

16. Curry leaves - 1  or 2 sprigs

Method

1. Pick, wash and soak the garbanzo beans or "chhole" in enough water to cover the beans. The beans are likely to soak up a lot of water, so adding 3 or 4 cups of water more after reaching the level of chhole is good. Soak for at least 8 to 12 hours or overnight.

2. Drain the water from the swollen beans and put them in a pressure cooker with a little salt and enough water to reach the top of the beans. Cook for at least 5 whistles or for at least 15 minutes after the pressure builds up. Take off the heat.

3. Carefully dry roast the coriander powder in a hot pan. It should only change colour slightly and not be burned at all. This is done so that the raw taste of coriander does not overwhelm the final result.

3. Grind items 3 to 12 including the roasted coriander powder, with some water to get a fairly smooth masala paste.

4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok and add the sliced onions or item 2. Brown well but not to a crisp.

5. Add the masala paste and saute for 2 minutes.

6. To the cooked beans in the pressure cooker, add the tamarind water and the sauted masala. Add salt if needed.

7. Close the cooker and pressure cook for another 15 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool so that the lid can be opened. Add the washed curry leaves and stir it well. (If the gravy is more watery than required, boil the "chhole" again after opening the cooker. Conversely, if the gravy is thick, add a little water and boil well to get a thinner gravy.)

8. Serve hot with fresh "poories".

Tips

Garbanzo beans soak up a lot of water, so it is better to add more water while the beans soak.  Some of this water may be used for cooking the beans.

I have not added tomatoes only because there is tamarind water in this recipe. But, feel free to add 1/2 cup of tomatoes instead of the tamarind water. If doing this, add the tomatoes after the onions are browned, saute for a couple of minutes, just before adding the ground masala paste.

This recipe can be used with bengal gram or "kala chana" also.

"Poories", a type of fried Indian bread goes best with this dish. Otherwise any Indian bread may also do.

You may garnish with chopped green coriander leaves and lime slices if you wish.

This recipe can be done in stages. I like to do till step 6, cool and store in the refrigerator, and pressure cook it only towards meal-times. Thus reducing a lot of work at lunch or dinner or even breakfast time.