Chickpeas in Hindi: kabuli chana names in English and Indian languages

The names table below shows what the sources print for the white kabuli type. The English name, with its two alternatives, comes from the USDA FoodData Central record: chickpeas, garbanzo beans, bengal gram. The Hindi names kabuli chana and chana come from the English Wikipedia article on chickpeas, which is also the only source here that records a regional name for the white type, so the other twelve language cells stay empty rather than borrow names that belong to a different type of the same seed.

The borrowed names would come from IFCT 2017, which lists only Bengal gram, whole, the dark desi type, with a full regional name list: Hindi chana, Marathi harbara, Gujarati chana, Punjabi shole, Bengali chola, Odia buta, Assamese boot, Kannada kadale, Telugu sanagalu, Tamil kondaikadalai, Malayalam kadala, Urdu chana and Sanskrit chanak. Those are the names of the dark type; for the white one the printed record is thin, and a name no source prints stays out of the table. The regional names of the dark type are listed in full on our kala chana names page.

Source: USDA FoodData Central record 173756 (English and scientific name only; no Indian-language names in source). — means no name recorded in the source.

Hindi ‘Kabuli chana’: Chickpea - Wikipedia. Hindi ‘Chana’: Chickpea - Wikipedia.

Kabuli chana in English is chickpeas, and the USDA FoodData Central record for the raw seed prints all three English names together: chickpeas, garbanzo beans and bengal gram. All three name the same seed. COWBERRY sells it as organic kabuli chana, with white chickpeas in brackets on the product page.

The botanical name is Cicer arietinum, printed by USDA FoodData Central for the white type and by IFCT 2017 for the dark one. Both the white kabuli and the dark desi type are this one species, which is why every name on this page points at one seed.

North and West India

In Hindi the white type is kabuli chana (Wikipedia), with chana as the general word the same article prints for chickpeas. IFCT 2017's Hindi entry chana sits under Bengal gram, the dark type, and its regional lists add harbara in Marathi and chana in Gujarati and Urdu, again for the dark gram.

South and East India

IFCT 2017 prints the dark type's names for the south and east: kadale in Kannada, sanagalu in Telugu, kondaikadalai in Tamil, kadala in Malayalam, chola in Bengali, buta in Odia and boot in Assamese. No printed equivalent list exists for the white type, so the table above leaves those language cells empty rather than guess. One oddity sits in IFCT itself: its longer local-names list for Bengal gram, whole, gives kabuli chana as the Nepali name.

• Kala chana: the dark, smaller desi type, IFCT 2017's Bengal gram, whole, with its own full set of regional names; the two types are compared number by number on our kabuli chana vs chickpeas page.
• Chana dal: the same seed split and hulled, IFCT 2017's Bengal gram, dal, sold as chana dal across India; not the white type, and not whole.
• Chole: the curry made from kabuli chana, and loosely the cooked white chana; the dish, not a different pulse.
• Garbanzo beans: not a different seed at all: the USDA record lists garbanzo beans inside the English name of the same raw chickpeas.

Despite its name, COWBERRY's product page notes, kabuli chana is extensively cultivated in India. COWBERRY's kabuli chana comes from Himachal Pradesh and Central India, where, in the product page's words, the soil and climate favour bold chickpeas, grown with cow-based farming and packed unpolished. In the field the plant is a legume of the family Fabaceae, and like other pulses, the FAO notes, it fixes atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, and including pulses in crop rotations can improve fertiliser use. For cooking and storage, the kabuli chana hub is the place to start.

Cook with it: see all kabuli chana recipes; try Punjabi chole, Kabuli chana laddu, Kabuli chana salad.

What is chickpeas in hindi?

Chana, and for the white type, kabuli chana. The English Wikipedia article on chickpeas prints chana as one of the names the plant goes by, and records the white, larger type as kabuli chana in Hindi. IFCT 2017's tables print chana as the Hindi name of Bengal gram, the dark desi type, so chana is the general word and kala chana or kabuli chana the specific ones.

What is kabuli chana called in english?

Chickpeas, garbanzo beans or bengal gram. The USDA FoodData Central record for the raw seed prints all three together as the English name, so a pack that says white chickpeas and a recipe that says garbanzo beans mean the same grain. The botanical name of the species is Cicer arietinum.

Why kabuli chana is called kabuli?

The name is believed to come from Kabul, in Afghanistan. Whatever the name suggests, COWBERRY's product page notes that the type is extensively cultivated in India, and its own kabuli chana is grown in Himachal Pradesh and Central India.

Difference between kala chana and kabuli chana?

Two types of one species. Kala chana is the dark desi type, IFCT 2017's Bengal gram, whole; kabuli chana is the type COWBERRY's product page describes by its large size and creamy white appearance. IFCT 2017 prints a full set of Indian names for the dark type and none for the white. Our kabuli chana vs chickpeas page compares the two per 100 g and in the kitchen.

What is kabuli chana?

The white chickpea: the larger, cream-coloured type of Cicer arietinum, soaked and cooked into chole, salads, hummus and falafel. COWBERRY sells it whole and unpolished as organic kabuli chana, from Himachal Pradesh and Central India. Its protein, fibre and calories per 100 g are on our kabuli chana nutrition page.