Punjabi chole

Chole, or chana masala outside Punjab, is the dish behind chole bhature and chole kulche: white chickpeas (kabuli chana) cooked until creamy inside and simmered in a dark, sour-spicy masala. The Amritsari and Rawalpindi (pindi) styles are darker and drier, tea-coloured and heavy on anardana; the everyday home version below is a little lighter, with enough gravy for rice.

Three things make it taste Punjabi rather than like a generic chickpea curry. The chana are soaked overnight and pressure-cooked with salt and, if you like, a tea bag or two pieces of dried amla; the tannin turns them the mahogany colour of dhaba chole and adds a faint astringency. The chole masala is ground at home from dry-roasted coriander, cumin, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, black cardamom and dried red chillies, so it goes into the pan minutes after roasting. And the sourness comes from amchur or anardana, not just tomato, so the gravy has an edge.

The gravy is thickened by mashing a ladle of the cooked chana into it rather than with cream or cashew paste, which keeps it clean and sharp. If you only have black chickpeas, make the kala chana curry instead; kala chana is the small desi type that chana dal is split from, and it wants a different, thinner gravy. Skip the tea bag if you prefer a lighter colour; use 2 tablespoons of a ready chole masala when time is short, added at the same point.