Kala Chana Masala Recipe, Black Chana Curry (Punjabi Style)

Kala Chana Masala –  Today I made a delicious protein rich curry known as Kala Chana Masala (Black Chana Masala Curry). This sabzi is cooked in Punjabi style with all the spices that are commonly used for Punjabi cuisine. Kala chana or bengal gram is quite common in Indian cooking. This lentil is very delicious and rich in protein. With its low glycemic index, Kala chana is perfect for a healthy diet. Lot of people make sprouts from kala chana and eat it in salads (related: bean sprouts salad).

I have cooked the kala chana masala curry in a pressure cooker to reduce its cooking time. Usually the lentils are cooked in pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time there by saving on utility bills. If you don’t have pressure cooker then you can cook this kala chana masala sabzi in normal pan too, however it will take quite a lot of time to get cooked.

Related: lobiya masala | rajma masala

Kala chana is often boiled and used in Pani puri masala, my favorite Indian street food.

Update: I just published a similar recipe of Dry kala chana sabji (sukhe kale chane). Do check out.

Let us check the delicious mouth watering kala chana masala curry recipe.

Step by step Kala Chana Masala curry recipe

1. Soak about 1/2 cup of black chickpea (bengal gram) in water over night. The kala chana will become softer and gets doubled in size when soaked in water over night. Still the kala chana would be quite hard for a curry. That is the reason why we will cook this kala chana masala curry in pressure cooker.

2. Now in a pressure cooker add onion paste. We want to remove all water from onion paste. That’s why we are cooking it first instead of adding oil to the pressure cooker. Once the onion paste turns light brown add oil, cumin seeds (jeera) and tomato puree.

Cook the tomato puree for 2-3 minutes, once cooked add grated ginger, garlic and chopped green chilies. Now mix all the ingredients well.

3. Add soaked kala chana/black chana in pressure cooker along with the water in which it was soaked. Now add all the spices: coriander powder (dhaniya), red chili powder, turmeric powder (haldi), chole masala and salt to taste. Mix everything well and let the spices get simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Now close the lid of pressure cooker and cook for 20 minutes. If you are using the pressure cooker with whistle it should take around 7-8 whistles.

Kala chana masala sabzi is ready to serve. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) and lemon juice.