Pindi Chana

Pindi chana is a popular chickpeas dry curry from Punjab; both in India and Pakistan and pairs well with Indian flatbreads. It is a no onion, no garlic and no tomato recipe.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Indian Cuisine, Pakistani Cuisine, Punjabi Cuisine

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Soak Time 6

Servings

Calories 310kcal

Author Usha Rao

Equipment

Bowls to soak and also mix chickpeas
Pressure cooker or a pot
Frying pan or a kadai or wok
Knife & Cutting Board

Ingredients

Chickpeas

1 cup dry Chickpeas or Kabuli Chana
2 Bay Leaves
3 Cloves
1 Black Cardamom or Badi Elaichi
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
5 Black Peppercorns
¾ Salt
2 - 2 ½ cups Water

Spice Powder

2 teaspoon Anardana ~ Dried Pomegranate Seeds
1 ½ teaspoon Coriander Seeds
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
5 Cloves
1 Black Cardamom
½ inch Cinnamon Stick
10 Black Peppercorns
¾ teaspoon Salt

Tempering

4 tablespoon Oil use another tablespoon of oil, if needed
5 Green Chilies slit into half
2 tablespoon finely shredded Ginger

Instructions

Preparing Chana

Wash and soak chana overnight. Chana will double in quantity and yield about 2 – 2 ¼ cups after soaking.
Change water and cook chana in a pressure cooker using fresh water with all the ingredients listed under chana.
You can tie whole spices in a cheese cloth and this will make it easy to weed out the spices once the chana is cooked.
Pressure cook for 5 whistles or however long it takes in your cooker. Chana should be tender but hold its shape. in Instant Pot, 5 minutes manual on high pressure.
Let the pressure release naturally. Drain and reserve some water, discard the spices and put the chana in a separate bowl.

Spice Powder

While the chana is cooking, dry roast all the ingredients listed under spice powder.
Cool the spices and grind to a fine powder.

Preparing Pindi Chana

Mix spice powder with the cooked chana.
Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan. When oil reaches almost smoking point, pour it over chana and mix well.
In the same pan, heat remaining oil, fry shredded or julienne ginger till golden brown and crisp. Remove from the pan and keep aside.
In the same pan, fry chilies until they change color. Remove and keep aside.
Add spice coated chana to the same pan and stir for 4-5 minutes on high heat, stirring constantly. Make sure not to burn the spices.
Add boiled chana water, about 1 cup, cover and cook for 5 – 10 minutes on medium - medium high flame. If your chana is already very tender, do not cover the pan. If you feel the chana is not tender enough, cover and cook until tender.
Uncover and cook until water evaporates.
Remove cover and cook until required consistency is reached. I cooked uncovered for about 5 – 10 minutes on low flame.
This curry is suppose to be almost dry but if one prefers gravy, make a thick gravy. The gravy should not be runny like the usual chana masala or choley.
Garnish with fried ginger and green chilies. Serve it with bhatura or pooris with some sliced onions.

Notes

Chana in pindi chana should be firm and avoid the temptation to over cook it. And do not mash the chana as it is done with other chana curry preparations.
This curry is suppose to be dry and if you do make a thick curry, you can add some tamarind pulp. For the dry version like I prepared, do not add any tamarind. I feel it is not required either as the anardana gives a nice tanginess to the chana.
I did not use tea or teabags for color. Frying the chickpeas with the spice powder and cooking in a cast iron pan gives the brown color.

Nutrition