Indian dish of dry black chickpea curry is made with Bengal gram or indian black chickpea instead of white chickpeas. This sookhe kale chane recipe is very special to me. Traditionally, this is made on kanjak pooja where we worship young girls as an avatar of Goddess Durga. It marks the end of fasting for festival of Navratri in North India. dried black chickpeas recipe is made for Mahabhog on Ashtami pooja (eighth day of navratri) / Mahanavami (ninth day) of Navratri festival along with sooji ka halwa and hot pooris. However, you can make this anytime you want. This dish cooks under 30 mins and is super tasty.
Sookha kala chana recipe or dry black chickpeas is also my go-to travel recipe. Just toast cumin seeds and add the boiled chickpeas and some masala. You are ready to go even with some bread. This recipe tastes great with poori and some mango pickle. If you get bored of dry sabji, make a ras wali tari or gravy. Everyone loves spicy kala chana masala recipe.
Top tip: If you want you can use canned black chickpeas if you forget to soak dry chickpeas overnight. Soaking in hot water also helps. You can also boil & keep it overnight if not making for ashtami prasad.
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Equipment
- stovetop pressure cooker/ instant pot for boiling chana
- frying pan / large saucepan
Ingredients
- Black chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled (1-2 whistles)
- Ghee/ vegetable oil if vegan
- Jeera /cumin powder
- Dhaniya /coriander powder
- Lal mirch/red chili powder
- Amchur/dry mango powder
- Salt as per taste
Refer to recipe card for details.
How to make ashtami bhog? (recipe video)
how to make sookhe kale chane?
- Boil chickpeas with water and salt after soaking for 4-6 hours. Keep it aside.
2. Heat oil/ghee and add cumin to it. Let it splutter. You can even add a tbsp. of chopped fresh ginger at this point.
3. Add all spices and cook for few minutes.
4. Add chickpeas with water.Let it cook until the water the dries out.
Serve sukhe kale chane hot.
Related recipes
Dried black chickpea curry| Sookhe kale channe recipe
Equipment
- pressure cooker/ instant pot for boiling chana
- frying pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup black chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled (1-2 whistles)
- 2 tablespoon ghee /oil if vegan
Dry spices
- 1 tablespoon cumin powder / jeera powder
- 2 tablespoon coriander powder / dhaniya powder
- 1 tablespoon chopped green chillies / red chili powder
- 1 tablespoon dried mango powder / amchur ( or lemon juice)
- Salt as per taste
Instructions
- Soak chickpeas for 4-6 hours overnight.
For pressure cooking in instant pot
- You can also use the pressure cook option for 10 mins on high pressure. Let it release automatically.
For pressure cooker on gas/induction
- Cook with 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles.
- In a frying pan, add ghee/oil. Add all spices except salt. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the boiled chickpeas with remaining water and salt.
- Cover it and let it cook for 15 minutes.
- Let it cook without the lid until the water has evaporated.
- While they are cooking, they might look to have less masala, but once the water evaporates, masala will be enough to cover all chickpeas.
Video
Substitutions & Variations
Traditionally we use ghee for tempering in this prasad recipe. However you may use olive oil or vegetable oil if you are vegan. If you like your curries too spicy, you may use hot red chilli powder like cayenne pepper and chopped green chilies. Kashmiri mirch powder or paprika works well if you like it mild. You can also add a teaspoon of turmeric powder if you are not making for bhog.
Use the remaining packet to make ras wali sabzi /kala chana masala where soaked black chickpeas are cooked in onion-tomato gravy. Add some suran and chane ki sabji by adding some boiled yam, Marathi style. You can also make a salad with boiled kala chana. Add some onion tomato, lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves for a kala chana salad. You can add some murmura or puffed rice and mixture to make a kala chana chaat. You can also add boiled or canned black chickpeas to make a hearty soup and serve it with some bread.
Another way of using sookhe kale chane is Kerala style kadala curry which is very popular in South India. Temper spices, curry leaves in coconut oil and add some shredded coconut to it. Serve the black chickpeas curry with puttu or appam for a South Indian brunch. For a Punjabi kala chana masala, add dried fenugreek leaves, garam masala and a teaspoon cumin powder.Italians also use a similar chickpeas which are slightly bigger in size , ceci neri.
Storage
Store sukha kala chana sabzi for 2-4 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze this brown chickpeas curry recipe. Just microwave it or heat it before you serve with jeera rice, Indian bread like vegan naan or roti.
FAQ
Hot water comes to rescue. Soak it in hot water for 2 hours until the skin wrinkles if you forget to soak chana overnight.
You can keep it in refrigerator and discard the water next day before cooking.
You can refrigerate it for 3-4 days just change water regularly.
There are many indian recipes you can make using bag of black chickpeas. Kala chana chaat, one-pot kala chana recipe, dried punjabi kala chana curry and black chickpea hummus.
Good for heart.
It is anti-inflammatory.
Has better protein and iron than regular chickpeas
Eating boiled kala chana helps in weight loss as it keeps you full for long.
Lowers cholesterol.
Helps prevent diabetes and maintain blood sugar as it digests slowly.
Conclusion
Sookha kala chana is a versatile recipe. You can serve it with bread, basmati rice, roti and poori.
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