Rawalpindi style pindi chole is a dish made with chickpeas which belongs to the Rawalpindi region in Pakistan. Pindi means village and Rawal is a region in Pakistan, hence the name Rawalpindi Chole.

Pindi chole is made with white chickpeas or Kabuli chana, onion, tomato, ginger garlic paste and lot of spices. To enhance the color, we should add a black tea bag while pressure cooking the chickpeas. You can also tie tea powder or tea leaves in a muslin cloth and add it to pressure cooker if you do not have a tea bag. The addition of anardana (pomegranate seeds) and other spices like coriander seeds, chili powder, dry mango, turmeric powder, and cumin makes this dish different from the normal chole and gives a spicy and tangy taste to the curry.

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What are the ingredients that go in making pindi chana Rawal pindi style?

Chickpeas: Use Kabuli chana or white chickpeas in this chickpea curry.
Vegetables: Vegetables like red onion and tomato are used in making the delicious gravy.
Spices: Spices like garlic, ginger, green chili, coriander seeds, anardana (pomegranate seeds), cumin seeds, cumin powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, amchur (dry mango powder) and garam masala are the spices used in this pindi chickpea curry.
Tea bag: A tea bag is used in adding a beautiful color to the pindi chole recipe.

Step by step instructions to make Pindi chana:

Soak chickpeas in water overnight or for 6 hours.
After soaking, pressure cook the chickpeas by adding ¼ teaspoon salt and a tea bag.
After pressure cooking, discard the tea bag, drain, and retain water in which the chickpeas were pressure cooked. Slightly mash half of the boiled chickpeas and keep aside.
Dry roast the coriander seeds and pomegranate seeds. After cooling, add them to a grinder and powder them. Keep it aside.
Heat a kadai and add ghee. When ghee gets melted, add cumin seeds, and let them crackle.
After the cumin seeds crackle, add onion and fry till onion turns pinkish.
Crush the garlic and ginger using mortar pestle and make a paste.
Add this to the onion in the kadai and sauté till the raw smell of garlic goes away. Add green chili and fry for few seconds.
Now add tomato and fry till tomato turns mushy.
Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder and garam masala and mix well.
Add the ground coriander seeds powder and anardana powder and mix well.
Add the boiled chickpeas and mix well.
Add salt to taste.
Add one cup water (use water retained after boiling the chickpeas) and let it cook for some time.
After the gravy thickens, add salt to taste and mix well.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Other chickpea recipes to try:

How to serve Rawal pindi chole?

This dish is normally served as a dry curry with spinach puri. But if you need gravy, add little water to it. You can serve this dish with finely chopped raw onion and phulkas. Use it as a filling in wraps or sandwiches and pack in your kid’s lunch box.

You also try other vegetarian curries like:

Health benefits of chickpeas are plenty. Apart from being rich in fiber and protein, they also contain vitamins which are good for health. They also promote heart health and are good for digestive health as they are rich in fiber and protein.

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