Punjabi-Style Chole Chickpea Curry

By
Petrina Verma Sarkar
Petrina Verma Sarkar
Food writer Petrina Verma Sarkar is a native of India with extensive knowledge of the country's regional cuisines.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 05/8/23
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 45 mins
Total: 65 mins
Servings: 4 servings

There are few foods more distinctly North Indian than chole (pronounced chho-lay) or chickpea curry, and there are probably as many recipes for making chole as there are households in North India. This is the recipe my mother has always used.

The trick to making this recipe as delicious as possible is to use whole herbs and spices and to use ones that are as fresh as possible. Take a whiff of your spices if there are some in this recipe that you don't use frequently. Anything musty or off, toss and buy new if you can.

This chole recipe requires both a ginger and garlic paste, which are not hard to make. The ginger paste can be made by blending fresh sliced ginger in a food processor with a little bit of neutral oil (such as avocado or canola) to a paste-like consistency.

Serve this crowd-pleasing dish piping hot and accompanied by pooris or bhatooras, which are two different kinds of fried Indian bread.

Punjabi-Style Chole Chickpea Curry

The Spruce / Diana Chistruga
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 3 large onions, sliced thin and divided

  • 2 large tomatoes, chopped

  • 1 tablespoon ginger paste

  • 2 tablespoons garlic paste

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil , or canola oil

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 5 to 6 cloves

  • 3 to 4 whole green cardamom

  • 5 to 6 peppercorns

  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder

  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

  • 2 teaspoons garam masala

  • 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans chickpeas

  • Kosher salt, to taste

  • Water, enough to make a gravy

  • 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, julienned

  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Chole chickpea curry recipe ingredients

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  2. Grind 2 of the sliced onions, the tomatoes, and the ginger and garlic pastes together into a smooth paste in a food processor.

    Grind onions and tomatoes, along with ginger and garlic pastes

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  3. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep, thick-bottomed pan on medium heat.

    Heat vegetable oil in a pot

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  4. Add the bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, and peppercorns and sauté until slightly darker and mildly fragrant.

    Bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns in a pot

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  5. Add the remaining sliced onion and cook until light golden in color.

    Sliced onions cooking in a pot with bay leaves

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  6. Add the onion-tomato paste you made earlier and cook until the oil begins to separate from the paste.

    add tomato paste to the onion mixture in the pot

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  7. Add the ground cumin, coriander, red chili, turmeric, and garam masala. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 more minutes.

    add spices to the mixture in the pot

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  8. Drain the chickpeas and rinse them well under running water.

    Drain and rinse the chickpeas

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  9. Now add the chickpeas to the masala. Stir to mix everything well.

    Chickpeas added to masala in the pot

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  10. Add salt to taste and enough hot water to make the gravy—about 1 1/2 cups.

    Add salt to taste and hot water to make a gravy

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  11. Simmer and cook covered for 10 minutes.

    Simmer and cook chickpeas and masala

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  12. Use a flat spoon or potato masher to mash some of the chickpeas coarsely. Stir to mix everything well.

    mash chickpeas in the masala

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

  13. Garnish with juliennes of ginger and finely chopped fresh coriander leaves. A squeeze of lemon and a handful of very finely chopped onion tastes great as a garnish too.

    Punjabi-Style Chole Chickpea Curry

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

Tips

  • In this recipe, canned chickpeas are used because they're so convenient, but you can also use dried chickpeas. If you do so, then factor in the time required to soak the dried chickpeas. After soaking, boil the chickpeas with a little salt, until soft and then use.
  • You can also make the ginger and garlic pastes ahead of time.

How to Store Punjabi Chole

Chole doesn't freeze well, and while they taste even better the day after they have been cooked, and will be good for a few days thereafter, they are best eaten the day they are prepared.


Nutrition Facts (per serving)
491 Calories
18g Fat
68g Carbs
19g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 491
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 18g 23%
Saturated Fat 2g 9%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 901mg 39%
Total Carbohydrate 68g 25%
Dietary Fiber 18g 64%
Total Sugars 16g
Protein 19g
Vitamin C 22mg 109%
Calcium 169mg 13%
Iron 4mg 25%
Potassium 783mg 17%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags: