{"id":190604,"title":"Chickpea Curry","modified":"2026-10-09T12:15:11+02:00","plain":"Dried chickpeas simmered in a tomato-onion sauce with whole spices, brightened with amchur and finished with fresh cilantro.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s cold, the day has been long, and you\u2019re craving a hot, filling dish with no meat. In the saut\u00e9 pan, the cardamom and cumin sizzle for a few seconds, the onion turns golden, then the tomato cooks down until the oil beads around the edges. The chickpeas, at once firm and meltingly tender, are coated in a thick sauce that coats the spoon. \n\n\n\nThe amchur goes in at the very end and wakes everything up with a tangy note. Dunk a piece of bread in it, and you\u2019ll be going back for seconds.\n\n\n\nAnother everyday Indian plant-based dish: red lentil dahl\n\n\n\nWhat Is Chickpea Curry?\n\n\n\nThis chickpea curry is a homemade chana masala in the style of Punjab, in northern India. The dried chickpeas soak overnight, then cook with salt, a bay leaf, and a pinch of baking soda. \n\n\n\nThe sauce starts with whole spices heated in oil (green cardamom, black cardamom, cinnamon, and cumin), then takes in the onion, ginger, garlic, ground spices, and tomato. It stays thick and concentrated, with no cream or coconut milk.\n\n\n\nIn Hindi, chana or chole means chickpea, and masala means the spice blend and, by extension, the aromatic base cooked in a frying pan. In English, it often goes by \u201cchickpea curry,\u201d which in French becomes curry de pois chiche.\n\n\n\nFrom the Fields of the Indus to the Street Stalls of Punjab\n\n\n\nChickpeas have been grown on the subcontinent since the Indus Valley Civilization, roughly between 3300 and 1300 BCE. \n\n\n\nSpiced sauces came much later with Persian and then Mughal cooking, which brought onion, garlic, ghee, and long reductions. Tomatoes and chili peppers arrived only with the trade opened up by the Portuguese. In the 16th century, the Ain-i-Akbari, the chronicle of Akbar\u2019s court, already distinguished the small, dark desi chana from the large, paler kabuli chickpea.\n\n\n\nIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, chana masala became a street food in Punjab and Delhi, and one of the best-known dishes of North Indian cuisine. It\u2019s served with bhature, fried leavened breads, or with kulcha, and it feeds workers and travelers for very little. In Sikh gurdwaras, it\u2019s cooked in large batches for langar, the free meal served to all visitors.\n\n\n\nAnother vegetarian classic from northern India: aloo gobi, spiced cauliflower and potatoes\n\n\n\nIn Punjab, two styles dominate. Amritsari chole is built on a base of onion, ginger, garlic, and tomato, with chickpeas often darkened during cooking with black tea or amla, the dried Indian gooseberry. \n\n\n\nPindi chole, which originated in Rawalpindi, is made without onion, garlic, or tomato: the chickpeas are coated in dry spices, then doused with smoking-hot ghee. This recipe follows the tomato-onion base of home-style versions, with no tea or amla.\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients in Chickpea Curry\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe dried chickpeas give the dish its texture. Soaked overnight and then gently cooked, they stay firm yet tender, and their salted cooking water is later used to bind the sauce. The baking soda is optional: it softens their skins and shortens the cooking time.\n\n\n\nThe whole spices flavor the oil right from the start: green cardamom brings a fresh note, black cardamom a smoky flavor, cinnamon a woody warmth, and cumin toasty notes. Turmeric, ground coriander, chili, and black pepper then provide the color and the heat.\n\n\n\nAmchur, a powder made from dried green mango, gives the dish its tart edge. It goes in at the end of cooking along with the garam masala. If you don\u2019t have any, a teaspoon of lemon juice added off the heat, or anardana, dried and ground pomegranate seeds, will do the trick. Fresh cilantro adds the final contrast.\n\n\n\nTechnique Tips for a Good Chickpea Curry\n\n\n\nThe same tomato-onion base, in a meat version: chicken curry\n\n\n\nThe main cue is visual: let the tomato cook down until its liquid evaporates and the oil separates from the masala around the edges. Stop too soon, and the sauce will still taste of raw tomato.\n\n\n\nThe whole spices aren\u2019t meant to be eaten: remove the cardamom pods and the cinnamon stick before serving, or warn your guests. For a quick version, two 400 g cans of chickpeas, about 480 g drained, can stand in for the dried chickpeas, and the curry is ready in about thirty minutes.\n\n\n\nServe it with naan, chapati, paratha, or jasmine rice. A raita cools the chili heat, and a lassi or a few samosas round out the table.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tChickpea Curry\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tFor cooking the chickpeas200 g chickpeas (dried)750 ml water0.75 teaspoon salt0.25 teaspoon baking soda1 bay leafFor the curry2 tablespoons oil3 pods green cardamom1 black cardamom1 stick cinnamon1 teaspoon cumin seeds1 onion (finely chopped)1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste1 teaspoon coriander (ground)0.5 teaspoon turmeric0.5 teaspoon red chili (ground)0.5 teaspoon black pepper (ground)2 tomatoes (chopped, or tomato puree)0.5 teaspoon garam masala1 teaspoon amchur (green mango powder), optionalcilantro (fresh, chopped, to finish)\t\n\t\n\t\tFor cooking the chickpeasSoak the chickpeas for at least 8 hours, changing the water several times (at least once).Drain and rinse them.Put them in a saucepan with the water, salt, baking soda, and bay leaf.Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.Drain the chickpeas, reserving some of their cooking water.For the curryHeat the oil in a saut\u00e9 pan.Add the green cardamom, black cardamom, cinnamon, and cumin seeds.Saut\u00e9 them for a few seconds without letting them burn.Add the onion and saut\u00e9 until it starts to brown.Add the ginger-garlic paste, then saut\u00e9.Add the coriander, turmeric, chili, and pepper.Stir and saut\u00e9 for a few seconds.Add the tomatoes.Cook until the liquid from the tomatoes evaporates and the oil separates from the masala.Add the cooked chickpeas.Pour in a little of the reserved cooking water to make the sauce.Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the flavors meld.Add the garam masala and amchur.Adjust the salt if needed.Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve.\t\n\t\n\t\tThis recipe follows the Punjabi chana masala style: a tomato-onion masala cooked down until the oil separates, then given a tangy lift with amchur at the end of cooking. Amchur (dried green mango powder) provides the dish's signature sour note. If you don't have any, replace it with a teaspoon of lemon juice added off the heat, or with ground anardana (dried pomegranate seeds).\nDried chickpeas are the real foundation of this curry: soaking them overnight and then cooking them gives them a firm texture and a flavor that canned chickpeas can't match. For a quick version, replace them with 2 cans of chickpeas (2 x 400 g, or about 480 g drained): skip the soaking and cooking, rinse them, and add them straight to the masala. The curry is then ready in around 30 minutes instead of roughly 1 1\/2 hours, not counting the overnight soak.\nThe black cardamom, green cardamom, and cinnamon stick flavor the oil but aren't meant to be eaten: warn your guests or remove them before serving. The baking soda isn't essential, but it softens the dried chickpeas and shortens their cooking time.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tPlat principalIndienne","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}