This Chole Masala, also known as Chole Recipe, is an authentic North Indian, Punjabi style curry made with white chickpeas, freshly powdered spices, onions, tomatoes and herbs. Naturally vegan and packed with healthy minerals, protein and fiber, this delicious street style Chole Recipe can be ready in just 45 minutes minus the soaking time of chickpeas.
About Chole Recipe
Chole recipe is a popular Indian dish of white chickpeas in a spicy and tangy gravy. In North India, this dish is called ‘chole masala,’ or simply ‘chole’. No matter what you call it, this is a tasty lentil curry dish that you should definitely try making yourself!
Chana is the Hindi word and Chole is the Punjabi word for chickpeas. In Hindi, the word masala means a mixture of spices. When the word masala shows up in a dish – like this Chole Masala or Paneer Butter Masala, for example – it specifically refers to a spiced gravy.
This Chole recipe was originally inspired and adapted from Anita’s blog and posted in 2009. I can’t believe it has been so many years since the original posting!!!
Table of Contents
Over the years, I have continued to perfect the recipe, making changes in proportions as well as ingredients. The result is this Chole Masala recipe, which has a good balance of spiciness, taste and flavor.
In the process, I also updated the pictures in the post and added a video making it even easier for you to follow along with me.
This easy, lip-smacking Punjabi Chole Masala is one of the most tried and tested recipes on the blog. It has been made innumerable times by me as well as by many readers.
This Chole recipe reminds me of Chole Bhature, which is our favorite street food. Chole Bhature is a popular Punjabi dish where chole masala is served with a fried leavened puffed bread known as Bhatura (or plural bhature).
When living in Delhi and Gurgaon, we would get awesome Chole Bhature in many places. While I don’t live in those cities anymore, I still get strong cravings for street style Chole Bhature, and this recipe for chole masala hits the spot!
It tastes exactly like the Delhi street-side chole curry, minus the heat. We prefer our foods on the tamer side of the Scoville index, so I’ve made a milder masala gravy.
However, if you prefer spicier food, simply increase the quantity of red chili powder, green chillies and garam masala powder to get the flavor just right for your palate.
Why Soak Chickpeas
When you make any chickpea or Rajma (Kidney Bean Curry), it is always better to soak the beans or chickpeas overnight (or for at least 8 hours), which makes it easier to cook the legumes.
Soaking beans or chickpeas also reduces the phytic acid, which is the element that causes bloating and flatulence.
Pro Tip: If you have forgotten to soak the chickpeas, you can speed up the process by adding them to a bowl of hot boiled water. Cover and soak for 1 to 2 hours.
In a pinch, you can also opt to use canned chickpeas instead. This will reduce the amount of cooking you have to do, but the trade-off is that you don’t get the opportunity to season the chickpeas with amla (Indian gooseberry) or tea bags.
Ingredients & Substitutes
- Dried Amla (Dried Indian Gooseberry) and Dry Pomegranate Seeds: The dried amla gives a dark color to the chole, along with a light tang. The pomegranate seeds give a sour taste. Find these ingredients at Indian specialty food stores or online at amazon.com.
- If you cannot find these ingredients, add dry mango powder (amchur powder) towards the end. In the absence of dry mango powder, you can also squeeze some lime or lemon juice towards the end to mimic the tanginess of amla and pomegranate seeds.
- You can also use a black tea bag to achieve the darker color that amla imparts. If you are not fussy about the dark color, then just cook the chickpeas in water with some salt or opt for canned chickpeas.
- Chole Masala Spices: what contributes to the flavors and aroma of this dish are the freshly ground chole masala spices. The whole spices are roasted until they get extra browned and are later ground.
- If possible, I always recommend making your own masala spice mixes from scratch. Whole spices are preferable to pre-ground spices, as they retain more of their naturally occurring oils. By making our own chole masala spice mix, we not only have control over the spiciness of the dish, but also the depth and quality of flavor.
How to make Chole Recipe
This simple Chole recipe can be broken down into three easy steps.
Soak and Cook Chickpeas
1. Rinse 1 cup dried white chickpeas in fresh water a couple of times. Then soak them overnight or for 8 to 9 hours in 3 cups of water.
Keep in mind to add enough water to take into account that the chickpeas increase in size during soaking.
After they have soaked, later drain all the water and again rinse the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for a couple of times.
2. Traditionally dried amla (Indian gooseberries) are added to impart a dark color to the chickpeas. Amla also gives a faint sourness to the stock. If you do not have dried amla, you can opt to add 1 black tea bag.
If you do not care about the dark color, then you can also just cook the chickpeas with salt and water, or opt to use drained canned chickpeas instead.
3. In a 3 litre stovetop pressure cooker, add the chickpeas along with 2 to 3 dried amla pieces or 1 black tea bag. Add 2.5 to 3 cups of water.
Note: Taj black tea bags work very well.
4. Season with ½ teaspoon salt. Stir very well.
5. Pressure cook the chickpeas for 12 to 15 whistles on medium heat. The chickpeas should be cooked well and softened enough that you can mash them with a spoon.
If you do not have a pressure cooker, then cook the chickpeas in a pot on the stovetop with plenty of water.
Depending on the quality and freshness of chickpeas, it can take up to 1 to 2 hours for the stovetop pan method.
Make Chole Masala Powder
6. Meanwhile, add all the whole spices for the chole masala to a pan or skillet. Begin to roast them on a low heat. The spices used for masala are the following:
- 2 black cardamoms
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 3 to 4 peppercorns
- 2 cloves
- 1 medium tej patta (Indian bay leaf) or 2 small tej patta
- ¼ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon dry pomegranate seeds (if you do not have these seeds, then omit adding them at this step and add dry mango powder or lemon juice later as mentioned in the steps below. In the recipe video, dry mango powder is added.)
- 1 to 2 dry red chilies (preferably broken and seeds removed)
7. Stir often and roast the spices until they get extra browned, but not yet burnt. Don’t stop even after they become fragrant, as they need to get more browned than usual.
8. The extra browned and roasted spices are pictured below.
9. Let these roasted spices cool and then grind or powder them finely in a coffee grinder or in a dry grinder.
10. By now the chickpeas are cooked (pictured below). You will see a darker brown shade in the white chickpeas. Remove the amla pieces or the tea bag from the stock and discard them.
Make Chole Masala
11. Heat 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan or kadai (wok). Add ½ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste and sauté for some seconds or until their raw aroma goes away. You can use any neutral tasting oil.
12. Then add ⅓ cup finely chopped onions. Sauté stirring often till the onions soften and turn translucent or light brown.
13. Add ½ cup finely chopped tomatoes.
14. Sauté the tomatoes stirring often until they soften and the oil starts to leave the sides of the onion-tomato mixture.
15. Reduce the heat. Then add all of the powdered spices that we made, together with ½ teaspoon red chili powder and ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder.
At this point, you can also add ¼ teaspoon garam masala – which is optional though.
16. Mix very well. Then add 2 to 3 slit green chilies to the onion-tomato masala mixture.
17. Add the cooked and drained chickpeas. Reserve the stock.
18. Stir and mix very well.
19. Season with salt as per requirement. Mix again. Keep the addition of salt in check as salt is also there in the stock.
20. Add about 1 to 1.25 cups of reserved stock or water. Stir well.
21. For a thinner gravy, cover and simmer on low to medium heat. You can also cook chickpeas without the lid, causing the gravy to thicken and reduce.
Mash some chickpeas with the spoon to thicken the gravy. If you prefer an even thicker gravy, add less water or mash more chickpeas to release the starches.
You can keep the consistency you prefer. At home, we prefer chole recipe with a bit of gravy.
22. If you have not added dry pomegranate seeds while roasting the spices, then you need to add amchur powder (dry mango powder) now.
About 1 teaspoon amchur powder is enough. However, you can add less or more of it as per your taste. Stir the gravy very well.
If you do not have dry mango powder, then add ½ to 1 teaspoon lemon juice or according to your taste.
23. The Chole Masala is ready to be served.
24. Garnish with chopped onions and cilantro (coriander leaves).
Serve the Punjabi Chole Masala with fried Indian bread like bhatura or poori, together with a side of sliced onions, ginger julienne and lime or lemon wedges. Yum!
Serving Suggestions
As I mentioned earlier, I prefer my Chole Masala served with a poori or roti. Some great options are: tandoori roti, phulka, kulcha, bhatura or naan. Add some sliced onions and fresh lime or lemon and you have the perfect Indian meal!
If you are avoiding gluten, this chole recipe also tastes good with plain steamed Basmati or jeera rice.
Variations
There are many variations of chickpea curries made in Indian cuisine, but I like this Punjabi Chole recipe that I have shared here the most. It tastes like the Chole you get in the streets of Delhi and Punjab! Few more delicious variations you can try are:
- Pindi Chole – A dry, spiced and tangy version of chole made with chole masala powder. A special and unique recipe from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan.
- Amritsari Chole – Another special variant from the city of Amritsar in Punjab, India. The gravy is made with onions, tomatoes and plenty of ground spices.
- Instant Pot Chana Masala – Easy one pot recipe made in the Instant Pot. No chole masala powder needed.
- Chickpea Curry – Simply delicious South Indian Recipe of chickpeas in a delightful curry base of roasted/toasted coconut and spices.
FAQs
Sure! Any leftovers can be frozen for up to a week or refrigerate for 1 to 2 days. However, I always recommend eating any lentils or beans on the same day.
Otherwise, it can give digestion-related issues with Vatta dosha according to Ayurveda. To reheat, allow to defrost in the refrigerator overnight and either use the stovetop/pot method or microwave it in intervals.
Chole is the Hindi word for chickpeas, while tikka is the Hindi word for “chunks.” Chole Masala is therefore a chickpea-based curry dish, while there are many kinds of tikka masala recipes out there that use vegetables, paneer or meat in a curry sauce.
You can try, but masala made with freshly roasted and ground spices has a different flavor and taste than the ones made with pre-ground spices.
I highly recommend trying to make your own – it really only takes about 10 minutes, and the flavor is so superior that you won’t mind!
If you are using pre-made chole masala spices, start with 2 to 3 tablespoons.
More Indian Chickpea Curries For You!
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Chole Recipe | Authentic Punjabi Chole Masala
Ingredients
For pressure cooking white chickpeas
- 1 cup dried white chickpeas (garbanzo beans, kabuli chana or safed chole) – 200 grams
- 3 cups water – for soaking chickpeas
- 2.5 to 3 cups water – for pressure cooking the chickpeas
- 2 to 3 dried amla or Indian gooseberry or 1 black tea bag, optional
- ½ teaspoon salt or add as required
Ingredients for gravy
- ⅓ cup finely chopped onions or 1 medium-sized
- ½ cup finely chopped tomatoes or 1 medium-sized
- ½ teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste or 2 to 3 small garlic cloves + ½ inch ginger, crushed to a paste in a mortar-pestle
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Garam Masala – optional
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon amchur powder (dry mango powder), optional and only to be added when you do not have dry pomegranate seeds
- 2 to 3 green chilies – slit
- 1 to 1.25 cups water or the stock in which the chickpeas were cooked
- 1.5 to 2 tablespoons oil
- salt as required
Spices for chole masala powder
- 2 black cardamoms
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 3 to 4 black peppercorns
- 2 cloves
- 1 tej patta (Indian bay leaf) – medium sized
- ¼ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon dry pomegranate seeds
- 1 to 2 kashmiri dry red chilies
For garnishing
- 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
- ½ to 1 inch ginger – julienne
- 1 medium onion sliced or chopped
- 1 medium tomato sliced or chopped
- 1 lemon or lime, sliced or quartered
Instructions
Soaking and cooking white chickpeas
- Rinse the chickpeas a couple of times in fresh water. Then soak them in water overnight or for 8 to 9 hours. Add enough amount of water as the chickpeas increase in size after soaking it. Later drain the water and again rinse the soaked chickpeas with fresh water.
- To give a dark color to the chickpeas, traditionally dried amla (Indian gooseberries) are added. These also give a faint sourness to the stock. If you do not have dried amla, then add 1 black tea bag.
- In a 3-litre stovetop pressure cooker add the chickpeas along with the 3 to 4 dried amla pieces or 1 black tea bag. Taj tea bags work very well. Then add water.
- Season with salt and pressure cook the chickpeas for 12 to 15 whistles on medium heat. The chickpeas should be cooked well and softened. The chickpeas should be soft when you mash it with a spoon or eat it. The chickpeas should not give you a bite when you eat it.
Dry roasting spices
- In a pan, take all the whole spices for the "chole masala powder" mentioned above and on a low heat begin to roast them.
- Stir often and roast the spices till they get extra browned. Don’t burn them. You have to go beyond a point roasting them even after they become fragrant and they get more browned than what is the norm usually.
- Let these roasted spices cool and then grind or powder them finely in a coffee grinder or in a dry grinder.
- By now the chole will be cooked. You will see a darker brown shade in the cooked chickpeas. Remove the amla pieces which would have softened by now or the tea bag from the stock.
Making chole masala
- Heat oil in a pan or kadai. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for few seconds or till their raw aroma goes away.
- Then add chopped onions and saute stirring often till the onions turn translucent or light brown.
- Add tomatoes and saute stirring often till they soften and the oil starts to leave the sides of the onion and tomato mixture.
- Lower the heat and then add all of the powdered chole masala that we ground, together with the red chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder (optional).
- Stir and mix the dry ground spices and then add slit green chilies
- Add the cooked chickpeas. Mix well.
- Add salt according to taste. Then add about 1 to 1.25 cups of the stock in which the chickpeas was cooked. You can also add water instead.
- Stir and cover the pan with a lid.
Cooking chole masala
- Simmer on a low to medium heat. You can also cook the chole masala without the lid.
- The gravy will thicken and reduce. Mash a few chickpeas as this helps in thickening the gravy.
- Simmer till you get the consistency you prefer. The consistency of this curry is not thin, but medium consistency or semi-dry. For thick or semi-dry consistency add less water.
- If you have not added dry pomegranate seeds while roasting the spices, then you need to add amchur powder (dry mango powder) now. Mix and stir well.
- Serve the Punjabi Chole with kulcha, bhatura, poori, roti, naan, bread with a side of sliced onions, tomatoes and lemon or lime wedges.
- While serving garnish with coriander leaves and ginger julienne.
- This Chole Masala also tastes good with steamed rice or jeera rice or saffron rice.
Video
Notes
Recipe Notes
- For dried chickpeas ensure that they are fresh and within their shelf period. Old or aged chickpeas will take a lot of time to cook and also don’t taste good.
- If you don’t have dry mango powder (amchur) or dried pomegranate seeds then add lime or lemon juice towards the end once the dish is complete.
- You can also use 3 cups of canned chickpeas and add them once the tomatoes and ground spices are sautéed well.
- You can skip making the chole masala powder from scratch and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of packaged chole masala powder instead.
Cooking Chickpeas In Pan or Pot:
- You have to take enough water in the pot while cooking the chickpeas. It takes a lot of time though. For 1.5 to 2 cups of soaked & drained chickpeas, you can take about 4 to 5 cups of water.
- Adding a pinch of baking soda in the water along with salt, also helps in the cooking process and the chickpeas become really soft when cooked.
- You can add about 1 teaspoon of salt while cooking the chickpeas. A little less salt is also alright. I usually add less salt.
- Cover the pot and cook the chickpeas. If the water starts to become frothy, then remove the lid and cook chickpeas for some minutes. Remove the scum if there is any while cooking the chickpeas.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Chole Recipe from the blog archives was first published on August 2009. It has been updated on November 2024.
Wow!!
It was awesome… They are just delicious..
thank you akankshya for your positive feedback 🙂
Hey I always look for your blog when I want to cook something new. I have tried so many of your dishes and they are always so properly explained and taste awesome. Tried this too and for a minute I thought that I have ordered this from a restaurant. That’s how amazing it turned put to be. Thanks for sharing such amazing recipes with us 🙂
thanks anjali. lovely feedback from you and glad 🙂
I like ur recipes , thanku very much , i would like to make same way punjabi chhole lets c once again thanku keep it up.
surely try jai thank you and you are welcome. do let us know how the punjabi chole was?
Nice recipe shared….i cooked it the way u wrote…awesome…loved it….
thanks for the feedback on the recipe. glad to know you liked it.
I liked this recipe very much….the tips were awesome. ..to boil the chhole with tea bags…i loved it….
thanks you poli 🙂
it really hlp. AWeSoM
thankyou ritu 🙂
These turned out to be yummiest as expected. My sis told me that I religiously follow ur website to which I replied YES! Thanks a bunch 🙂
A small request – plz post a recipe for green moong dal bhajiyas. Thanks 🙂
thanks a lot zehra for your sweet comment as well as the feedback on the chana masala recipe. i have posted of yellow moong dal bhajiya. here is the link – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/moong-dal-bhajiya-pakora-recipe/
i will add green moong dal bhajiya or pakoda recipe also.
Ur recipes r always awesome and it turns out delicious again to mention dat ur a born genius cook I follow ur recipes for everything I want to try even I tried your bhindi fry nd masala recipe it was finger licking good ur recipes never fail and it’s easy to understand your step wise photos with illustrations atlast chole recipe is one of my favorite
thankyou so much komal 🙂 your compliment means a lot to us.
Hi …i started cooking recently and am setting up my kitchen. Could you please let me know which mixer is best in the market to buy for a small family ??
Also which material is best for cooking ?? Non stick, ceramic or any other? ? I heard non stick is not safe so a little doubtful what to buy for my kitchen.
Thanks
Pradeepti
i use preethi mixer grinder (blue leaf) and it is good for a family of 3 to 4. best is to use steel. even iron, brass and copper is good, but additional care needs to be taken. you can also buy clay or earthen pots. they are also good. non stick has to be used carefully. use it only for low to medium flame cooking. high flame removes the non stick coating. also do not use sharp spoons on non stick pans. use wooden or silicon spatulas or spoons.
Made samosa n chole today, they were the best, thanks for the wonderful recipes : )
thankyou vibha 🙂
1 cup kabuli chana in grams plsssss………..
arja, its 200 grams. will update in the post too.
This particular recipe rocks!!
Wish u could add some non-veg recipes too.
thanks a lot SK.
Thank you for this tasty recipe! I am beginning to learn how to cook Indian foods and the clear details & pictures are EXTREMELY helpful!
pleased to know this isabel thankyou so much for your kind and encouraging words glad our blog could help you 🙂
I wrote a post that appears to have disappeared …. I tried your excellent recipe, but I was plumb out of Kabuli chana, (chick peas), so I used Cowpeas, / Red Chori / Vigna unguiculata – Wikipedia … instead. It has a little firmness, (bite) even after 12 minutes in the presuure cooker, but we liked it. We used some potato flakes to thicken up the gravy. By the way, Cowpeas are recognized by the UN Food and Argi. org (FAO) as the most protien rich bean in the world. No kidding.
To Hope (-ful ?) the American, who posted below ….. until Ms. Dasana can get around to writing her ‘paper’ cook book ….. isn’t it a miracle, that we can still use her ‘virtual’ cook book ? :->)
Continued good wishes and Joy and happiness.
i just replied to your earlier comment, gary ji. even i use cowpeas for making usal and sometimes make it in the punjabi way. paper cook book is a big task. i touted with the idea a few years ago and gave up. there are too many things involved. but as i mentioned in my previous comment, i will be making an ebook. i so much agree on the “virtual cook book” part. thanks for that 🙂
Dasanaji, ….. Regarding, writing a ‘paper’ cook book, ….. before you go through the motions and procedures of writing a paper cook book, …. maybe you could easily write an E-book with all your ….. or most of your virtual recipes, with a select amount of the photographs, and make a quantum leap forward.
I understand your husband is in the IT business, so the file making and the systems analysis and E-book making can be done in a jiffy.
Just a thought – that I thought could be of help.
gary ji, we are looking into writing an ebook. so will publish the ebook in some months. thanks for the suggestion. my husband’s IT knowleldge does help at times 🙂