Amritsari Chole (Chic Peas - Gravy)

Being a lazy Saturday, I decided to stick to regular 'Chole Chawal', but the constant thought of putting it on the blog, made me experiment with some ingredients to make it a tasty treat for family & friends. So here's a simple way of making yummy 'Amritsari Chole' or Chick Peas for my English speaking friends.

(Serves Four) 

For this we would need:

Chick peas (chana) 250 gms,

Split peas (chana dal) 100 gms,

Onions 2-3 medium size (grated)

Tomatoes 3-4 medium size (grated)

Garlic 8-10 cloves (peeled & grated)

Asafoetida (hing) 1 pinch

Cumin (jeera) 1 tea spoon

Turmeric (haldi) 1/4 tea spoon

Red Chillies (pissi laal mirch) 1/4 tea spoon

Goose berry 1 (amla - grated) or amla powder 1 tea spoon

Salt to taste

Ghee / Oil - 3 tea spoon

Keep the chick peas soaked overnight. Boil the soaked chick peas & some split pea lentil (chane ki dal) till the chick peas are soft and the lentil dissolves completely and makes the entire mixture a bit thick.

The masala / paste is then made by heating the oil in a pan; put some asafoetida (hing), cumin seeds, grated onions and garlic. Let the onion and garlic paste turn brown (approx 5 mins) and then put grated tomatoes and mix them well. Once it combines, put turmeric, red chilly powder, salt, to uniformly form a paste.

Then comes the surprise element of adding grated amla (gooseberry) which gives it a distinct taste. Its a new element I tried and it gave an amazing look and flavour to the entire paste. Let the paste simmer on low flame for 2 to 3 minutes, and keep sprinkling water at frequent intervals.

Then add boiled chick peas and keep it on low flame for 5 minutes, stirring in between. The addition of amla will also give it a brownish colour and a professional flavour. Garnish with onion rings, fresh coriander leaves & green chillies and can be served hot along with boiled rice, pooris or breads (chapati).

I hope the resulting dish is both delicious and appealing. You can write back, if you have any questions / comments or suggestions for making this blog or my recipes more helpful. God bless !!