The Amritsari Chole is a traditional and authentic dish from the Punjab region. It tastes tangy, spicy, and full of masala flavors. It’s a delicious dish mixed with Indian spices.


One can serve this Chole with butter naan or butter roti. Also, it tastes good with bhatura and Aloo Tikki. Most people prefer this with naan or kulcha. This is a perfect dinner recipe to entice your family members. Though, it has many variations of chole like chole curry or chole gravy sabji with onion or tomatoes.

This delicious chole has a traditional Indian and fresh taste. Chickpeas are a good source of protein and energy so definitely, so this sabji is a way to go for living a healthy lifestyle. Also, they are low in fat and boost digestion.

The chickpeas are soaked overnight and then cooked with all Indian masala. So, what are you waiting for? Cook this delicious Amritsari Chole for your loved ones and enjoy it during the weekends and at dinner.

Key Points To Remember For Amritsari Chole

We are first tempering the ingredients in oil for the base curry masala and then grinding them. You can either crush or grind the ingredients (excluding onions) before tempering. Onions are to be finely chopped for cooking.

Making The Potli

The tempting dark colour of the dish is because of the tea in the potli; or as termed in the French language- “Bouquet Garni”. This contains a cinnamon stick, bay leaves, dry red chillies, black cardamom, cloves, and black peppercorns, along with tea.

Soaking The Chickpeas

It is extremely essential to soak the chickpeas overnight. If not possible overnight, then at least soak them for eight hours. It will make the cooking process easier. You can add fresh garlic and ginger cloves to the chickpeas when boiling.

Cooking The Onions

Onions are added to the home recipes of this dish. If you will eat this on the streets then onions are absent. The use of onions can make the dish inedible and unfresh for eating.

If you are cooking the onions without grinding them with other ingredients, then you will have to be patient enough. This whole recipe takes quite some time as the cooking is on low heat. You need to let the onions get a semi-brown colour before adding the dry masala and tomato puree.

Dry Spice Powder For Chole

A dry masala in the curry is added. The spice powder contains coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black cardamom, black peppercorns, salt, Kashmiri red chillies, Degi Red chili powder, asafoetida, dry mango powder, and carom seeds. These ingredients are roasted and then ground.

Cooking The Masala

Don’t cook the dry masala too much as it will burn and turn bitter. Start sprinkling a little bit of water as soon as the oil starts separating while cooking the masala, to avoid it getting burned. Keep repeating this until the masala is cooked as required.

The flavours of the masala get diluted when you cook them till oil separates and after water is added. It is supposed to be strong as it is the star of the dish. As a solution, some more dry masala is added to the dish with the addition of water.

Adding Ghee

Do not add ghee or any fatty substance to the chickpeas while pressure cooking them to avoid the coating of colour on the chickpeas. Add ghee at the end to cover up the bitterness from tea and masala.

Tips For Amritsari Chole:

  • You can add dried-up amla to the boil for flavour.
  • Add a tad bit of baking soda before boiling for a speedy boiling of the chickpeas.
  • Instead of regular salt, some people add rock salt or black salt while pressure cooking the chickpeas.
  • Add a bit of Hing to the tempering for more flavours and aroma.
  • You have the option of using canned chickpeas as well. About three cups of them will do.
  • For some tang, you can use dry mango powder, lemon juice, and pomegranate pearls before removing them from the heat.
  • Serve with any side dish like Raita or salad to enjoy the complete taste of the dish.
  • This dish can be doubled or tripled. Similarly, the spices are adjustable as well.
  • Some people try replicating this dish using black chana but it doesn’t taste the same.

Also, try similar recipes like Dum Aloo and Stuffed Baigan.