Pindi Chole | Rawalpindi Chana Recipe

I prepare Chole or Rajma at-least once a week and if I run out of them, I end up with options like Lobia, black peas etc.TH prefers black chickpeas over the white one, as he likes the nutty taste of the black chickpeas; hence the black chickpeas get featured at our place more than the kabuli chana does.Though my ideal option for chickpeas would be the Punjabi Chole version,but it is quite boring to prepare the chole in the same way hence I always look out for various options.You can prepare chickpeas in various forms like Pindi Chole, Kadai Chole, Chana masala(with coconut), Kala chana masala, Punjabi Chole, Methi Chana, Chana Palak, Kadala curry etc. This post is on the preparation of Pindi Chole recipe. I will post the other varieties later.

Pindi Chole or Rawalpindi Chana emerged from the name of Rawalpindi, a place in Pakistan. Pindi Chole is prepared in a different way from the usual chole recipe. In Pindi chana there is no onion and tomato used and it is totally prepared with the spices and is made dry unlike the regular chole.The addition of freshly pound spices and dried anardana powder along with amchur adds a nice tang to the recipe.I have adapted the recipe from SK's site but I toned down the spices and masalas to suit our taste buds.Pindi chana is a great combination with parathas or pooris/bhaturas. Serve it along with onions,green chillies on the side and add lemon juice to the chole; this combination will elevate the taste to a different level.

Pindi Chole | Rawalpindi Chana Masala Recipe:

Serves 2-3

Prep time: 10 mins | Cooking time: 15 mins | Total time: 25 mins + 25 mins of chole cooking time

Cuisine: North Indian | Category: Side Dish - Main Course

Ingredients:

to cook chole:

1 cup white Chickpeas(Kabuli Chana)

1 Tea bag

1 Biryani leaf

1" Cinnamon + 2 Cloves

Spice mix:

1 tbsp Coriander powder

3/4 tsp Red chili powder

1/2 tsp Homemade Garam masala

1 tsp Amchur(dried mango) powder

to roast and grind:

1 tbsp Cumin seeds

2 tsp Anardana(dried Pomegranate seeds)

other ingredients:

2-3 tbsp Oil

1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste

1-2 Green Chilies,roughly chopped

1 tbsp Coriander leaves,to garnish

to serve:

Onion,finely chopped

1 Green Chilli,finely chopped(optional)

Lemon wedges

Method:

• Wash and soak chickpeas for 7-8 hrs or overnight. Drain the water and rinse it again and add fresh water (2-3 cups) and add biryani leaf, tea bag, cinnamon, cloves and salt and pressure cook for 1 whistle and simmer it for 20-25 mins.Once the pressure drops, fish out the spices and tea bag and drain and reserve the cooked water.
• Dry roast cumin seeds until they are dark brown in color and remove it aside,do not burn them.In the same pan dry roast anardana and keep it aside.Once they come to room temperature grind to them a powder,slightly coarse is fine.
• Meanwhile mix red chili powder, coriander powder and amchur powder and keep it ready.
• Heat oil in a deep curved pan and add ginger-garlic paste and cut green chilies and fry for a minute until they loose their raw smell.
• Reduce the flame and quickly add mixed masala of red chili powder,coriander powder and amchur powder and fry for half a minute.Be careful and make sure you do not burn the masala.
• Add 1/4 cup of reserved cooked water to it and let it boil until the oil floats.Add the boiled and drained chickpeas and enough salt(remember we added salt while cooking chickpeas as well) to it and cook until the water evaporates.
• Add garam masala, roasted cumin and anardana powder to it and mix well and cover it and cook for 3-4 mins.If you want you can add a tbsp of water and cook if the chole is very dry.
• Garnish with coriander.

Serve it hot with Poori/Naan/Phulka/Bhatura with chopped onions,green chillies and lemon wedges. Mix the chopped onions and green chillies and add lemon juice to the pindi chana before eating.

Notes:

1. You can prepare this with black chickpeas.I usually prefer black chickpeas over the white ones.
2. If you like you can add a chopped tomato along with the garam masala and other spices at the end as the original recipe suggested.
3. It tastes nice when it is made spicy but you can adjust the spices according to your wish.Instead of chopping the green chillies,you can add slit green chilies in the recipe.
4. I used home made Garam masala and Ginger Garlic paste, if you are using store bought ones increase them to 1 tsp garam masala and 1.5 tbsp  ginger garlic paste in the recipe.
5. If you want you can add 1 tsp Chole masala along with the other spices in the recipe. 

Technorati Tags: pindi chana recipe, rawalpindi chole, pindi chole recipe, dry chole recipe, different chole varieties, side dish for rotis, restaurant style pindi chana recipe 

Read More»

Kala Chana Sundal | Black Chickpeas Sundal | Navarathri Recipes

Happy Navratri to all!!

Today is the first day of Navaratri and I offered kala chana sundal as prashad and I am here to share the same in my space.I love the way how my Tamilian friends pronounce it,they call it 'Konda Kadalai Chundal'.Check out the various Navarathri recipes here for various sundal, kheer, snack and rice varieties.

We always make a variety of sundal for any festival as it not only adds the number of items to the menu but also it is very easy to prepare and an absolutely guilt free snack to compensate the extra calories from the fried stuff and sweets made on festivals.Hubby is a big fan of sundal especially when made with kala chana.It is a perfect guilt free snack which can be served as a snack or as a side dish in lunch or breakfast.

Kala Chana Sundal | Konda Kadalai Sundal Recipe:
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:
1 cup Black Chickpeas/Kala Chana
2-3 tbsp grated fresh Coconut
3-4 Green chillies,sliced
1/2" Ginger,grated
juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt to taste

to temper:
1 tsp Urad dal
1-2 Red chillies,broken
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
a sprig of Curry leaves
a pinch of Hing
1 tbsp Oil

Method:

• Soak Kala Chana overnight or at least for 8-9 hrs and pressure cook for 3 whistles until soft,I generally pressure cook for 2 whistles and cook on low flame for 5-6 mins for making sundal.The Chana should be soft and firm to touch and should not be either hard or mushy. You can add salt while cooking chana or add it at the time of tempering.
• Drain the chana and keep it aside,you can use this drained water to make healthy rasam.
• Grind grated coconut,ginger and green chillies to a coarse paste in whipper mode.
• Heat oil in a kadai and crackle mustard seeds and add urad dal and red chillies and let them turn slight brown.
• Add hing,curry leaves and ground coconut-green chilli-ginger paste and fry it for a minute.
• Add cooked and drained kala chana and required amount of salt and mix well and cook it on low flame for 2 mins.Do not fry them for long as it makes the sundal very dry.
• Switch off the flame and add lemon juice and mix well.

Serve them hot,warm or cold as a snack or with lunch.

Variations:

1. You can replace kala chana with white chickpeas,lobia,green gram,yellow peas or chana dal for variation or you can even use mix of these legumes to make variety sundal.
2. You can even add coriander leaves in the end.

Read More»

Mixed Bean Sundal | Navaratri Sundal Varieties

My mom makes either sundal or sambar using all the mixed beans on a regular basis.I like all varieties of sundal but mixed variety sundal is tastier when compared to a simple sundal.Even the water which is strained from sundal can be converted to delicious rasam with the addition of a ground coconut masala.This is rich protein packed and you can use any kind of beans in this to mask them if your family do not take it otherwise.Try this sundal for prashad on one of those days of Navratri.

Mixed Bean Sundal Recipe:

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Kala Channa/Black Chickpeas

1/3 cup Lobia/Black eyed Peas

a handful of Groundnuts

a handful of Horse gram

1/4 cup grated fresh Coconut

4-5 Green chillies,sliced

1 tsp chopped Coriander,to garnish

juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt to taste

to temper:

1 tbsp Chana dal

1 tsp Urad dal

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

a sprig of Curry leaves

a pinch of Asafoetida

1 tbsp Oil

Method:

• Soak all the beans(black chickpeas,black eyed beans,ground nuts,horse gram) overnight or at least for 8-9 hrs and pressure cook for 3 whistles until soft.The beans should be soft and firm to touch and should not be either hard or mushy. You can add salt while cooking them or add it at the time of tempering.
• Drain the beans and keep it aside,you can use this drained water to make healthy rasam.
• Grind grated coconut and green chillies to a coarse paste in whipper mode.
• Heat oil in a kadai and crackle mustard seeds and add chana dal and urad dal and let them turn slight brown.
• Add asafoetida,curry leaves and ground coconut-green chilli paste and fry it for a minute.
• Add cooked and drained beans and required amount of salt and mix well and cook it on low flame for 2 mins.Make sure they stay moist and not let them dry out by over frying it.
• Switch off the flame and add lemon juice and coriander leaves and mix well.

Serve them hot,warm or cold as a snack or with lunch.

Variations:

1. You can even add a small piece of ginger while grinding coconut and green chillies,it adds nice flavor.
2. You can add red chillies while tempering and reduce the green chillies in the recipe.

Read More»

RAW MANGO RICE | MAMIDIKAYI GOJJU ANNAM | MAMIDIKAYI PULIHORA

We make a lot of mixed rice varieties and pulavs regularly at home. During festivals preparing some form of rice without onions and garlic is a must. Many rice varieties such as Lemon rice, Coconut rice, Puliyogre, Raw mango rice, Vangibath, Mustard rice, Sesame rice etc fall in that category. I have already posted a Raw mango rice recipe which is prepared using grated mango where the preparation is similar to that of lemon rice.We also make another version of raw mango rice where raw mango is ground with coconut and few spices to a coarse paste and fried in oil to make yummy gojju, which is typically Karnataka style. I will probably post this recipe later.

For this post I have adapted this simple recipe from one of my favorite bloggers 'Pavithra of Dishes from my Kitchen'. Did I ever tell you that I love her blog very much? She is a wonderful blogger and a very good friend of mine. I love her diversity of cooking from traditional Indian one's to International cooking. Her presentation skills and food photography are excellent. Coming to today's recipe this raw mango rice that I have prepared tastes similar to the raw mango rice prepared in Karnataka style which I mentioned about earlier.

Raw Mango Rice | Mamidikayi Gojju Annam Recipe :
(Serves 2)
Source: Dishes from my Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup Sona masuri rice or Basmati rice
1/2 cup black Chickpeas/kala Chana,boiled until soft
2-3 tbsp chopped Coriander
Salt to taste

for Mango gojju:
2 raw sour Mangoes,peeled and diced
2 tsp Cumin seeds
6 byadige Red chillies(for bright red color)
8-10 regular Red chillies
1/2 tsp Asafoetida
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
2-3 tbsp grated Jaggery
2 tbsp Chana dal
2 tsp split Urad dal
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
a sprig of Curry leaves
Salt to taste
4 tbsp Sesame oil or regular oil
Method:
to make Gojju:

• Warm the red chillies until they are crisp.Grind red chillies with cumin seeds,turmeric powder and asafoetida to a fine powder.
• Add peeled and diced raw mango pieces to it and grind to a fine paste with little water(2-3tbsp).
• Heat oil in a big kadai and crackle mustard seeds.Add chana dal,urad dal and fry well.
• Add curry leaves to it and fry for 30 secs.Add ground paste to it and fry for a minute.
• Cover it with a lid(just cover 3/4th portion of kadai) and let it cook over medium flame until the mixture is thick.
• Add grated jaggery and mix well and cover it and cook again until it oozes out extra oil.Remove it from stove and let it cool.Store it in a clean bottle in refrigerator.You can make this mixture ahead and refrigerate upto 10 days and use when required.

to make Mango rice:

• Soak black chickpeas over night and pressure cook with little salt for 3 whistles.Drain the extra water from it.
• Clean and wash the rice and soak for 10-15 mins and pressure cook it with 1 cup rice:2 cups water ratio or prepare it in rice cooker as you prefer.
• Once it is done spread it over a big plate and let it cool,take care that the rice granules should be separate.
• Add 4-5 tbsp of prepared mango gojju and enough salt to it and mix well.
• Taste the rice now and adjust the sourness and salt according to your taste buds.Add cooked and drained chickpeas and coriander to the rice and mix well.
• Let it sit for 2-3 hrs before serving for the flavors to mix well.If the rice sits for little longer the flavors blend well.
  

Serve it at room temperature with some fryums.

Notes:

1. Addition of black chickpeas is optional,but biting them in the rice gives a nice taste.
2. Mango gojju can be stored in refrigerator upto 10 days and preparing the raw mango rice with the already prepared gojju is a breeze.
3. Balance the sourness of mango with the jaggery,red chillies and salt which is a key process while making this kind of variety rice.

Read More»

Chana Masala, Naan and Fruit salad

I wanted to make something different as I was tired of eating that boring stuff last week. I was in a mood of preparing a wholesome meal for us so came up with an idea of preparing Naan and Chana Masala.Since I had a lot of fruits lying in the fridge I thought of making fruit salad as well as it is very refreshing especially during summers. I ended up preparing a big bowl of fruit salad which lasted for unlimited servings continuously for two days.

Now coming to Chana Masala,my husband is a big fan of chana masala as he grew up in Delhi and developed a taste for such pulses hence it is prepared every other week.

Chana Masala:


Ingredients:
1 cup Kala Chana
2 medium alu diced
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp dhaniya powder
1/2 tsp toasted jeera powder(fresh tastes better)
1/2 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp Garam masala
1 tsp chana masala powder(optional)
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1/2 lemon squeezed
1 green chili
1 Bay leaf/Tej patta
1/2" cinnamon stick
a pinch of hing
salt

To grind:
1 Big onion sliced
2 Tomatoes chopped
1" ginger chopped
4-5 garlic pods

Lemoned Onions:
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1/2 lemon squeezed
1/2 tsp vinegar
Mix everything well and leave it aside for sometime(until it turns pink)

Method:
Soak Chana Overnight(or for 6-7 hrs) with some salt and a pinch of garam masala.Pressure cook chana for 2 whistles and simmer it for 20-25 mins until soft.
Microwave diced alu for 3-4 mins.
Grind onion,tomato,ginger and garlic to a fine paste
Heat oil in a kadai add cinnamon stick,slit green chilli,bayleaf,hing and a pinch of garam masala and fry for a minute.Add ground onion-tomato mixture to it and fry till the gravy separates from the oil.Now add dhaniya powder,toasted jeera powder,chili powder,chana masala,amchur powder,garam masala and fry until all the masala's are well incorporated.Now add boiled alu,chana(slightly smash some chana to get gravy consistency) and fry till all the water is completely absorbed.
Add salt and enough water and cover it and cook for 7-8 mins.Add lemon juice and coriander and give a quick mix and serve.
Serve it hot with lemoned onions,stuffed mirch ka achaar and roti/paratha/Naan.

Note:
For Quicker version,Heat oil in a cooker and add cinnamon stick,slit green chili,bay leaf,hing and a pinch of garam masala and fry for a minute then add ground onion-tomato mixture to it along with all the masala's(dhaniya powder,toasted jeera powder,chili powder,chana masala,amchur powder,garam masala)and fry for 2 mins.Now add diced Alu and soaked Chana and fry for 3-4 mins,add salt and enough water and pressure cook it for 2 whistles and simmer for 25 mins.
Add coriander and lemon juice just before serving.

I feel that the quicker version is better as the chana is cooked in the masala's and the spices are well infused in the chana which makes it's taste better than when prepared in the traditional way.

Naan:


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour(Maida)
1 ladleful of beaten curds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Cups milk(to make the dough)




Method:
Sieve well flour with salt and baking powder.
Make a well in between and pour curds,sugar,oil and some milk and using your three fingers mix the dough turning the vessel to form a nice elastic dough by adding enough milk.Give a nice massage to the dough approximately for 10 mins.
Rest the dough in a greased vessel for 3-4 hrs in a warm place.
Make oblong shape Naans,add the toppings like chopped coriander,while sesame,Nigella seeds and roll it once again.prick it with a fork and apply butter over it and bake it in a preheated oven for a couple of minute until brown spots appear on it.
Serve hot with any curry/Dal.

Fruit salad with custard:

I am sure everybody knows how to prepare this delicious fruit salad with custard,keeping in mind about the beginners i am just explaining the process of preparing the fruit salad.


Ingredients:
3 tbsp custard powder(i used vanilla flavour)
3 cups cubed fruits(Mango,orange/mosambi,grapes,banana,apple,strawberries etc)
4 tbsp condensed milk
2 tbsp sugar
3-4 tbsp whipped cream(optional,i did not use it here)
500 ml milk
3 tbsp chopped dry fruits(cashewnuts,badam)
1 tsp raisins
2-3 drops of lemon juice(to retain the colours of fruits)
cherries for garnishing

Method:
Mix custard powder with 50 ml of milk properly and add this to the boiling milk stirring continuously or prepare custard as per the instruction on the pack.cool the custard completely.
Cut the fruits and add sugar and lemon juice to it and mix.
Mix the cooled custard with condensed milk and whipped cream, add fruits and all the dry fruits to it and give a good stir.Refrigerate it for 4-5 hrs.
Serve it cold with a cherry garnished on it.
You can either serve with Ice cream.

Note:
Chop the citrus fruits like orange/mosambi,grapes first and then chop banana and apple so that it does not loose the colour.

I am sending the chana masala for WYF-Side dishes by EC of Simple Indian Food,and this is my third entry for the event.

And the Kalonji-topped Naan to Think spice-Think Kalonji event hosted by Ammalu's Kitchen.

Read More»