Paneer Chole (Chickpeas & Cottage Cheese Gravy)

Day 47 of Lock Down

Happy Sunday and Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful moms who are our first teachers in the kitchen. I will be always grateful to my ma for all those long sessions over Skype to teach me the basics while I was in US. It used to be really fun having my laptop beside my cook top and I would keep showing ma the ingredients or the look of the preparation. Thank God for the technology I learnt to cook a full meal thousands of kilometers away from my country over the net. That was the time I really got hooked to cooking and then there was no looking back. Every recipe that I cook has some or the other inspirations from what ma has taught me over the years. She has always been the best critic and guide in my gastronomic journey.

The temperature has been soaring here in Pune for the past couple of days. It crossed 41 degrees two days ago. With the nationwide lock down and decrease in vehicular traffic, the summer has been quite pleasant this time. So far it had been like 5 to 6 days which saw extreme hot and humid weather. Otherwise everyday by the evening its pretty breezy outside.

Today it was Chole paneer for lunch. I made this combination for the first time ever. Well this quarantine is teaching us all the tricks in the trade - things which I never ate before or thought of making, I am pulling out all those recipes and converting it into reality. I must agree I was never very handson with northern preparations of Chole, Rajma, etc, but always enjoyed a good dish from them. It was my long standing desire to prepare a good north Indian style Chole or Rajma preparation. I checked a few recipes for Chole and Paneer together and did a mix and match of process I liked. Wanted to have that rich dark brownish black shade to the gravy like pindi chole and I was pretty much satisfied with the final look. 

Many firsts in this recipe. First time ever used organic chole. My verdict is they get boiled pretty fast compared to the normal ones, yet stay firm lookwise and doesn't taste bland. Secondly, using tamarind with chole - I liked the taste better than amchur. Thirdly, paneer with chole - well they do go well with each other inspite of the fact that their textures are very different. Fourthly, using tea for coloring - definitely worked out as expected. Overall a good first time experiment.

Soaking Time : Overnight

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients (for chickpeas boiling):

• Chickpeas (Chole) -  1 cup (200 gm)
• Bay Leaf (Tej Patta)- 2 
• Black Cardamoms - 2
• Cinnamon - 2 inch
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Ginger paste - 1 tsp
• Black pepper cloves - 4-5 crushed coarsely
• Black tea bag - 1 or Normal tea leaves - 2 tsp
• Water - 3-4 cups

Ingredients (for gravy):

• Onion - 2 medium ( 1/2 sliced, 1 1/2 for paste)
• Tomato - 1 big, chopped
• Paneer - 200 gm
• Green Chillies - 2-3, slitted
• Corriander powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind Paste - 1/2 tbsp or Amchur powder - 1 tsp
• Kasuri methi/Kitchen king - 1 tsp
• Salt and sugar as required

Procedure: 

1.  Soak the chickpeas(kabuli chana) in enough water overnight or for 7 to 8 hours. Drain and rinse the soaked chickpeas in water and keep aside.

2. Put the soaked chickpeas in the pressure cooker with 3 cups of water and add the following whole spices to the water -  Bay leaf(Tej Patta), black cardamoms, inch cinnamon, tsp salt, tsp ginger paste and black pepper cloves.

3. Also add one black tea bag to the water. If you do not have black tea bag, use any normal tea bag. If you do not have any tea bag, then just boil tea leaves (ctc) in water, strain it and add the tea in the pressure cooker. Pressure cook the chole for required number of whistles.

Tips #1 : Tea bag is added to this preparation to give it the beautiful rich blackish brown color.

Tip #2 : Some people add baking soda to soften the chole faster, but it somehow messes with the taste of the chole so i don't prefer it. Instead put a steel spoon in the cooker when you pressure cook the chole. The science behind this is, that the items which are softer than the hardest item in the cooker gets softened faster. This really helps in cooking the chole faster.

Tip #3 : For this recipe I used organic chole and the result was definitely noteworthy. The organic chole cooked faster and even after they got soft they didn't disintegrate. Taste wise also I found the organic chole to be better than the normal one.

4. The chickpeas should be cooked well.  If you try to press it it should break easily, to have that  soft melt in the mouth texture. Discard the tea bag and keep the cooked chickpeas along with the stock and whole spices aside. If the chickpeas are not cooked, then pressure cook them again for required number of whistles adding more water.

5. Now take half of an onion and slice them

6. Take the rest of the onion and put it in a blender. Add the ginger and garlic also. Make a fine paste out of them

7. Warm some water and add the paneer cubes to it so that they get soft and remain soft till the time we want to add them to the recipe.

Note: If you want to fry the paneer, then do so and drop the fried paneer to the warm water to keep it soft. I had used Amul Paneer for this.

8. Heat refined oil in a wok. Once hot temper it with jeera (cumin). Add the sliced onions and fry till they are browned in the sides

Tip #4: I cooked this gravy in an iron kadai to add to the dark color

9. Now add the onion paste to the wok. Fry them till the masala start to release oil

Tip #5 : Add a little salt while frying to make the cooking process faster

10. Add the chopped tomato now. Saute it till the whole masala releases oil

11. Add the following spice powders to it - 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp red chili powder, ½ tsp garam masala and ½ tsp turmeric powder. Fold in and cook for about a minute. 

12. Add the cooked chickpeas along with the stock and whole spices. Fold in nicely.

13. Add 2-3 slitted green chillies. Add some water if the stock is less. Adjust the salt and sugar levels at this point as per your preference. Remember we had already added some salt while boiling the chole

Note: The final version will be a salt, sweet and tangy gravy

14. Let the gravy simmer. 

15. Crush a few of the chickpeas and mix in the gravy, this will help in thickening the consistency

16. When the gravy is thick enough, add the paneer cubes and give it a nice stir

17. Add the tamarind paste or amchur powder and the kasuri methi. Adjust the tanginess as per your preference. Fold in

Tip #6: I prefer adding tamarind paste because it makes the taste profile smoother than amchur powder. You can replace kasuri methi with kitchen king because it also has kasuri methi

18. Simmer the gravy for about 2 minutes. Don't cook it for long after adding the paneer and the tangy element.

Serve it in a bowl and garnish with ginger slivers and fresh coriander leaves. This gravy goes well with any kinds of Indian flat breads like roti, paratha, kucha or naan. It can also go well with steamed rice. 

Do try this out and tag me (@curriesnstories07) on Instagram on your photos whenever you try the recipe and I will give a shout out to you.