Winter special - Piping Chole

With the cold weather, our mouths crave piping hot food, both heat-wise and spice-wise. So this is what was cooking in J's kitchen today. Chole!

Traditionally, chole is a bit of a dry dish. But today we were pairing it up with jeera rice and so it had to be a bit of a gravy. The colour and texture are richer than the camera afforded at this late hour. And according to me, there is a world of difference between Channa masala and Chole. If you're interested in this chole recipe, read forward.

Ingredients
1. 2-3 pods of garlic, finely minced
2. 4 green chilis, finely chopped
3. 3 medium-sized onions
4. 2 medium-sized tomatoes
5. 1 medium-sized potato, boiled
5. Grape-sized tamarind piece/piece of lemon
6. 2 bay leaves
7. 1 spoon mustard seeds, 1 spoon jeera seeds, asfoetida, 1/2 spoon red chilli powder and 2 spoons of oil for seasoning
8. 1 medium-can of chickpeas
9. Finely chopped onions and coriander leaves for garnishing.
10. Salt to taste

Method
1. Roughly chop 2 onions and 1 tomato and fry them in 1 spoon of oil in a saucepan. Add salt to taste and 2 cups of water and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes till the raw taste of the onion and tomato are gone. Set aside.
2. In another saucepan, heat 1 spoon of oil and allow the mustard seeds and jeera seeds to crackle.
3. Add asfoetida, bay leaves, garlic and green chillis and cook for a minute.
4. Add the last onion and tomato, finely chopped and simmer along with salt for a few minutes.
5. Add the potato and the chick peas, close the pan, turn the gas to medium-low and allow to cook for a while (~6-8 minutes)
6. Meanwhile, grind the onion-tomato mixture that you set aside into a course gravy.
7. Add this to the contents of the present saucepan and mix it up and cook thoroughly with closed lid.
8. Once the chickpeas have softened considerably, mash about half of them using your ladle to encourage them to blend into the gravy. This makes a lot of difference in the taste and texture for some reason and so don't skip the step.
9. Make pulp off the tamarind and add to the mixture or directly squeeze the juice of half a large le,on into your subji. This adds a very important tangy flavour to the chole which makes it taste very good.
10. Garnish with finely chopped onion and fresh coriander.

Serve with chapathis/puri/ or good old steamed rice. Bon appetit!