Chola Masala

Over the last year I find myself thinking about food all the time. What to eat , what to grow, what to cook. All my “me” time (I have a lot of “me” time) revolves around food. Since living in Bangalore I do experiment a lot with what we call the “Indian cuisine”, and I must admit living in the south part of the country my north Indian genes really crave for good Chola and Paneer. 

My mom passed me a recipe of the Chola Masala we cook in our Marwari kitchen, I tried my hand at it and was not at all happy with what I was eating, then I dialed up many older aunties (the younger generation is eating only quinoa and salad) and tried collecting a database of chola recipes. So unhappy with the outcome!!! Uff!! I just couldn’t taste the masala in Chola. It was more like throwing in some boiled chickpea in masaledar gravy. You know what I mean ??

And then ‘Google’ maharaj – my knight in shining armor came to my rescue.

Since this recipe is an amalgamation of several finds on google, I can’t credit it to one particular person. BTW one of the recipes also explained in an 11 minute video the science of the perfectly cooked ‘Chola’!

Three cheers to the art, science and craft of the near perfect Chola Masala, I can taste the Masala in the Chola finally 😜. 

Ingredients -

For Step1

·     200 gm Chick Pea/ Kabula Chana soak overnight

·     2 tea bags

·     ½ tsp baking soda

·     1 tsp salt

·     3 – 4 cloves

·     4 Badi Elaichi

·     2 inch Cinnamon Stick  

For Step 2

·     2 tbsp ghee

·     2 tbsp anaar dana

·     2 tbsp daal masala

For Step 3

·     2 tsp oil

·     Pinch of hing

·     1 mid size onion

·     1 mid size tomato

·     2 tsp ginger + chilli paste

·     ½ cup dahi

·     1 cup water

·     2 tsp Kasuri Methi
c  Chopped Coriander
    Sliced Green Chillies
     Salt to taste

For Daal Masala

·     2 gm turmeric powder

·     120 gm coriander powder

·     30 gm red chilli powder

·     20 gm aamchur powder

·     6 gm dry ginger powder (saunth)

·     22 gm Bhatti Masala or Garam Masala 

Method

Step 1

In a pressure cook add the overnight soaked chana, baking soda, salt, badi elaichi, cinnamon, cloves and tea bags. Add water just enough to cover the Chana. Pressure cook for 3 -4 whistle. If you have a pressure cooker that doesn’t whistle, then cook on the highest setting for 11 minutes.

Step2

Depressurize naturally.

Open the lid when its depressurized but still hot and sprinkle the Daal Masala and Anaar Dana on top of it. Heat the ghee in a tadka paan separately until it is smoking hot. Now pour this hot ghee on top of the Chana and Masalas. Cover the lid and keep it aside.

Step 3

Preferably in a Cast Iron Kadai , if you don’t have a cast iron kadhai then any heavy bottom pan is fine. 

Heat the oil, add the pinch of Hing, now cook the ginger and garlic paste in it for 2 minutes. Add the onions and cook until translucent – 2 minutes. 

Add the tomato and cook for 3- 4 minutes. 

Now add the Dahi/ Curd and cook for 1 minute. 

Thereafter add the chana+ masala that is kept separately, add one cup etc water and bring it to boil. Reduce the heat once boiling and let it simmer on low heat for 30-35 minutes 

Check for salt and then add Kasuri Methi, Coriander and Green Chilles for garnish.

Serve hot with Rotis or Kulcha or even rice.

Daal Masala

Just mix all ingredients together and bottle it.