Punjabi Chole Masala

Ingredients:

• 250 gm - Chick Peas or Chole
• 1 tsp - Tea powder
• 2 tsp - Refined Oil
• 1/2 cup - Chopped Tomato
• 1/2 tsp - Zeera
• 1/4 tsp - Mango powder or aamchur
• 1 tsp - black pepper powder
• 2 tsp - Ghee
• Salt
  For Wet masala(1):
• 2 Nos - Clove
• 1" long Cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp - Black pepper corns
• 2-3 - Green chillies
• 1" long Ginger piece
  For Dry masala(2):
• 1 No- Bay leaf
• 2 tsp - Mustard seed
• 2 tsp - Zeera
• 1 tsp - Fenugreek seed
• 3 Nos - Cloves
• 2 - Whole Dry Red chillies

Method:

• Soak Chick Peas over night in a bowl of water. Make a small pouch of tea powder and drop it in this bowl. After minimum 12 hours, pressure cook the chana along with tea leaves pouch till channa is soft. When cooked discard the tea leaves pouch and drain the chickpeas into a bowl. Do not discard the water.
• Prepare a paste out of masala(1) and mix this paste with cooked chickpeas and let it stay for atleast 10 minutes.
• Dry roast all the masalas(2) in a pan and when cool make a fine powder out of it in a mixer. You can make this masala and store. This makes the work easier.
• Heat some oil in a kadhai. Splutter some zeera and add some chopped onions and saute till golden brown. Saute the chopped tomatoes too.
• Now put the marianated chickpeas and add the dry masala(2 tsp), aamchur, black pepper powder and simmer the flame and let the water evaporate.
• Heat the ghee in a small pan till the smoke comes.Pour this ghee into the kadhai and keep it covered for sometime.
• Serve hot with batura or poori or even roti!!
• Optional : Garnish it with coriander leaves and chopped onion and tomatoes.