Chhole Masala

Chhole Masala is one of my favorite dishes since my childhood. Whenever my mom and me tried to cook it at homes, somehow, we could not get the taste we desired. But then I approached a family friend of mine, A punjabi, for a recipe to get the perfect chhole masala. She suggested the below one to me. And then I got the perfect chhole masala for me, as and when I wanted.

Ingredients:

Chole chana-  1 1/2 cup

tea-bag -1

salt- as per the taste

baking soda- 1 pinch

oil-2 tbsp

cloves- 2-3 

green cardamom- 2

black pepper- 5-6

sesame seeds- 1/2 tsp

fennel seeds- 1 tsp

cumin seeds- 1 1/2 tsp

soonth powder- 1/2 tsp

aamchur powder- 1/2 tsp

rock-salt- 1/4 tsp

garam masala- 1 tsp

red chili powder -1 tps

tomatoes- 4-5 medium

anardana powder- 1 tsp( if you dont have it, aamchur will work instead, but authentic taste comes with anardana)

 Procedure:

 Step 1. Soak the chana for 8 hours.
Step 2. Add water to the soaked chana, add baking soda and add a tea bag to it. Pressure cook it for 6-8 whistles.
Step 3. Till then, roast all the spices and grind these into powder.

 Step. 4. Grind the tomatoes to the puree.
Step 5. Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the tomato puree to it.

Let the puree get cooked well.

Step 6. Remove the cholle, drain the water and add these to the tomato puree.

Let the chana mix with the puree well and add water as per requirement.

Step 7. Let the curry boil and achieve a dry consistency. Add the chhole masala prepared earlier and mix well. Serve hot with bhatura.