Pindi Chana is a dry chickpea dish from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. It is made with cooked chickpeas seasoned with chole masala powder, ginger, garlic and tangy dry mango powder. The dish is prepared without onions or tomatoes and has tangy, spiced flavors.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 500 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 510 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: North Indian, Punjabi

Ingredients

  • 250 grams dried white chickpeas ((kabuli chana) or 1.25 cups dried chickpeas or 3.5 to 3.75 cups canned chickpeas)
  • 3 cups water (- for soaking chickpeas)
  • 3 cloves
  • 2 sticks cinnamon (- each of 1 inch)
  • 2 black cardamoms
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 2 tej patta ((Indian bay leaf))
  • 1 black tea bag (or 3 to 4 dried amla (Indian gooseberries) pieces)
  • 1 teaspoon black salt
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons oil (- any neutral oil)
  • 3 teaspoons ginger garlic paste (or crushed ginger-garlic)
  • ½ teaspoon red chili powder (or cayenne pepper or add as required)
  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder ((ground coriander))
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 2 to 3 teaspoons chole masala ((chana masala powder))
  • 1 teaspoon dry mango powder ((amchur powder))
  • salt (as required)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or add as required, optional)

Method

For cooking chickpeas

  1. Rinse a few times and then soak the chickpeas in water for 8 to 9 hours or overnight.
  2. Boil the soaked chickpeas with the whole spices, black salt, water and tea bag in a pressure cooker for 10 to 15 minutes. If the chickpeas are not cooked completely then pressure cook them for a few more minutes.
  3. You could also tie all the spices in a muslin and make a bouquet garni and add it to the chickpeas.
  4. Drain all the water from the cooked chickpeas. Remove and discard the spices and tea bag.

For making pindi chole

  1. In a pan heat oil and saute the crushed ginger-garlic or ginger-garlic paste.
  2. Sauté for some seconds until the raw aroma of the ginger-garlic disappears.
  3. Make sure the heat is low or you can switch off the heat. Then add all the ground spice powders - red chilli powder, coriander powder, dry mango powder, garam masala powder and chana masala powder.
  4. Mix well and sauté the ground spice powders for a minute on a low heat. Take care not to burn the ground spices.
  5. Add the cooked chickpeas and mix it well with the masala.
  6. Add salt and check for seasoning. Adjust the seasoning if required by adding more salt or powdered spices.
  7. Let the chickpeas cook for 5 to 7 minutes in the masala on a low heat. Stir at intervals.
  8. Lastly, add lemon juice to the chickpeas and mix it well. Instead of adding lemon juice at this step, you can also serve lemon wedges with pindi chana.
  9. Serve pindi chole hot with onion rings, green chillies and lemon wedges accompanied with naan, bhatura, puri, paratha, kulcha or even roti.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.