Pindi Cholay Dried Beans Pressure Cooker Recipe

Pindi Cholay  originated in Rawalpindi, a city in Pakistan now.

(Chole, Chholay, Chickpeas, Garbanzo beans)

1. For traditional pre-cooking, you will need 2 Tablespoons of Amla powder during par cooking for black color. Here, we will use 2 Tablespoons of tea leaves.

2. Traditionally, the beans are cooked in Karahi over medium heat for about 2 to 3 hours. We will use Pressure Cooker to save time.

How to make Cholay?

Ingredients

Pre-soak

1. Kabuli Chana (Dried Garbanzo beans): 2 cups
2. Water for soaking: 6 cups

Pre-cook

3. Tealeaves: 2 Tablespoons
4. Water: 3 Cups

Masala

5. Cooking Oil: ½ Cup
6. Onions Ground: 2 cups

7. Salt: ¾ teaspoon

8. Cayenne pepper: ½ teaspoon 
9. Garlic: 10 cloves
10. Ginger 1" peeled and chopped fine: 1 Tablespoon

11. Ajwainr: ½ teaspoon

12. Standard Garam Masala: 1 Tablespoon

Substitution

Cinnamon powder: ¾ teaspoon

Ground Cloves: ¾ teaspoon

Ground Black pepper: ¾ teaspoon

Ground Cardamom: ¾ teaspoon

13. Ground Fennel Seeds: ½ teaspoon

14. Anar-daana (Dried, dry roasted and powdered pomegranate seeds): 1 Tablespoon
15. Cumin seeds (Dry roasted and powdered): 2 Tablespoon

16. Bay leaf: 3

Garnish

1. Cilantro Chopped

2. Fresh Serrano Chopped

3. Thin wedges of fresh lime

Method

Pre-soak

Bring water to a boil. Add Garbanzo beans. Let it cook for 5 minutes and shut off the heat. Let rest for 12 hours or overnight at room temperature. After pre-soak is done, drain and rinse beans.

Pre-cook

Tie tealeaves in a muslin cloth. Add pre-soaked beans, water and tea to a pressure cooker. The water must top the beans by about 2". Lock in the lid. Turn on heat. After the pressure cooker has reached 15 PSI, turn the heat to medium. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. After the pressure has dropped, remove tea. Drain and save the black tea water.

Masala

This is normally done in iron Karahi.

1. In a separate pan heat cooking oil.

2. Add onions, salt and Cayenne pepper. Fry till water is gone and onions are actually turning brown.

3. Add Garlic and ginger. Cook two minutes.

4. Add remaining spices. Fry about one minute.

5. Add about one cup of black tea water saved from pre-cooking. Bring to a boil. Simmer about five minutes.

6. Add the pre-cooked beans stir well to coat the bean thoroughly. Add the remaining water if any left from pre-cooking. Continue cooking stirring occasionally till all the water has evaporated.