I usually cook chickpeas from scratch when I make this traditional chickpea curry. Canned ones cost three or four times as much and don't taste nearly as good. Plus you don’t need to soak dried chickpeas overnight, so it’s not like you have to plan a day ahead. Serve this curry with naan, rice, or roti, and you've got a meal that's hearty, super satisfying, and very budget-friendly.
Chickpeas, much like rice, are going to make frequent appearances around here. They're inexpensive, filling, buttery and delicious, especially when cooked from scratch. I just love them, A LOT, be it with eggs in a curry, in pulao, in chana chaat, hummus, or part of a full halwa puri spread. You get the point.
My secret to some extra oomph in this dish is the addition of a very small quantity of split masoor dal. It gives the curry a rich body and adds a subtle taste that's nice and nuanced but doesn't take over other flavors.
To make this curry, I throw in uncooked, unsoaked chickpeas into an instant pot and cook for 55 minutes. That's a longer-than-usual time, but it makes up for skipping the soaking step. Mind you, with pressure cooking, your unsoaked chickpeas will come out soft, but they won't swell up as big as soaked ones.
While the chickpeas are cooking, I mix up all the spices into one blend, so I’m not scrambling around mid-cooking. Once that’s done, I make a quick blended mix of tomatoes with ginger, garlic, and a couple other everyday ingredients. The blending bit cuts down the prep time and chopping. Once all that prep is done, the process of making the curry gets very simple and straightforward.
Pre-cooking notes and tips
- Quick clarification for those unfamiliar: Chana (white chickpea) isn’t the same thing as chana dal. The latter is split black chickpeas, a lentil, and it won’t work as a swap here.
- I almost always use Roma or plum tomatoes for my desi cooking. Some sweeter varieties don’t work as well. You want a bit of acidity to keep the taste nice and bright. Make sure the tomatoes are ripe and red for the best flavor. If they’re not quite there yet, I’ll throw in a bit of tomato paste to give it a little boost.
- If you're using canned chickpeas (which I don't recommend), use 3 cups of drained and rinsed chickpeas to replace each cup of dried uncooked ones.
- Kashmiri chili powder gives the curry a deep red color, but you can skip it. When doing so, up the regular red chili powder quantity a bit. Say ¾ teaspoon instead of ½.
- If you don’t have fried onions, use one medium onion instead of the ¼ cup of fried onions, and increase the oil quantity from ⅓ cup to ½ cup. Heat the oil, then fry the sliced onion until it turns golden brown. Use it in the blended tomato paste just like you would use pre-fried onions. Everything else in the method stays the same.
- If you’re using a traditional stovetop pressure cooker, start timing once it reaches full pressure. Then reduce the heat just enough to keep the pressure steady and gentle. When the cooking time is up, let the pressure release naturally.
Serving ideas
This chickpea curry (chana salan) works well with basmati rice or flatbreads like naan, roti, chapati, or paratha. Also pairs nicely with achar, raita, and kachumber.
And that's a wrap!
This is a very simple recipe to make. The cooking time may seem long, but the active hands-on time is not. Hope you give it a try, and if you do, I’d love to hear how it turned out in your kitchen. Leave a comment and a rating below.
Happy cooking ~ Nelo
Pakistani Chickpea Curry
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 g) uncooked dried chickpeas - unsoaked, rinsed & drained
- 1 tablespoon (10 g) uncooked masoor dal - aka split red lentils, rinsed and drained (Note A)
- ⅓ cup cooking oil - any neutral oil you prefer
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro - aka coriander/dhaniya
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice - freshly squeezed
Spice Mix
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder - aka dhaniya powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin powder - aka zeera powder
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala
- 1 teaspoon amchoor powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder - adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon black salt - aka kala namak (Note B)
- ¾ teaspoon regular white salt
- 3 whole black cardamoms - aka bari elaichi
Blended Mixture
- 2 medium (200 g) tomatoes - I use Roma tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic - peeled
- 1 inch piece of ginger - peeled
- 2 small whole green chillies - pull out the stems. I use Thai chilies
- ¼ cup fried onions
- ¼ cup yogurt
Instructions
- Add rinsed and drained chickpeas and masoor dal to an Instant Pot with 3.5 cups of water. Pressure cook on High for 55 minutes. Then let the pressure release naturally. Don't discard the cooking liquid. If your dried chickpeas are very old, they may take longer to cook.
- While the chickpeas are cooking, combine all the ingredients listed under "Spice Mix" in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Add all the ingredients listed under “Blended Mixture” to a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth. Set aside.
- Start this step once the chickpeas are done pressure cooking. Heat the oil in a wide nonstick pan or pot over medium heat. Add the blended paste and cook until it's reduced by about half. Lower the heat if it starts to splatter.
- Add the prepared spice mix and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Then add the cooked chickpeas along with all of their cooking liquid.
- Stir well, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the chickpeas are buttery soft. Add water as needed to adjust the consistency you prefer. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the chopped cilantro and lemon juice and gently mix. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Serve hot with naan, roti, or basmati rice.
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