Kala chana curry
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
50 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Lunch
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Kala chana (brown chana)
About This Recipe
Kala chana is the small, brown-skinned desi chickpea: a close relative of the big white kabuli chana, and the grain that is split and skinned to make chana dal. It has a thicker skin, a nuttier taste and a firmer bite, so it is cooked differently: in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh it becomes a thin, soupy kale chane ki curry eaten with rice, or the dry sookhe kale chane made for Navratri kanjak; in Bihar it is ghugni; in Tamil Nadu it is sundal, tossed with coconut and a mustard-seed tempering.
This recipe is the thin-gravy home version, and it is not a chole recipe with a different bean. Chole is thick, dark and sour with a heavy, roasted masala; kala chana curry keeps the gravy light and pourable, uses only coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli, and gets its body from a handful of the cooked chana mashed into it. The finishing tadka of ghee, cumin, hing and dried red chilli is what makes it smell like a home kitchen rather than a dhaba.
The overnight soak matters: the skins are tough, and the soak is what lets 6 to 7 whistles cook the chana right through. Keep the dark cooking water for the gravy. For the dry sundal-style version, drain the cooked chana and toss them in hot oil with popped mustard seeds, curry leaves and a slit green chilli, then finish with grated coconut and a squeeze of lemon; the same pot of chana feeds both dishes.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Chana
- Kala chana (brown chana) — 1 cup
- Water, for pressure cooking — 3 cups
- Salt (1 tsp for the cooker, the rest for the gravy) — 1 1/2 tsp
Gravy
- Ghee (1 tbsp for the gravy, 1 tbsp for the tadka) — 2 tbsp
- Onion, finely chopped — 1 large
- Ginger-Garlic Paste — 1 tbsp
- Green chilli, slit — 1 piece
- Tomato, finely chopped — 2 medium
- Turmeric Powder — 1/2 tsp
- Coriander Powder — 2 tsp
- Kashmiri red chilli powder — 1 tsp
Tadka
- Cumin Seeds — 1 tsp
- Hing (asafoetida) — 1/4 tsp
- Dried red chilli — 1 piece
Garnish
- Coriander leaves, chopped — 2 tbsp
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Serving Suggestions
Ladle kala chana curry over steamed rice, as Punjabi and UP homes do, and add a spoon of ghee, some sliced onion and one green chilli to bite into; it is thin enough to soak into the rice. With roti or paratha, cook it down a few minutes longer so it clings. The dry sundal version goes into tiffins and evening snacks, and leftover curry, kept in the fridge, makes a fine chaat with chopped onion, tomato and lemon.
Tips for Cooking Kala chana curry
Soak for at least 8 hours in plenty of water; kala chana swell to nearly double and the skins soften only with time. Salt the cooker water. Do not throw the cooking water away: it is the base of the gravy. Mash a few chana to thicken rather than adding flour or cream. Keep the tadka for the last minute so the cumin and hing stay bright.
Chef’s Note
Choose unpolished kala chana with a matte, even brown skin and no wrinkles or holes. Per 100 g raw, IFCT 2017 gives kala chana 18.8 g protein and 25.2 g fibre. One of the four servings of this curry comes to about 219 kcal, 9.7 g of protein and 13.5 g of fibre, not counting the rice. See how it sits beside the common dals on our dal protein per 100 g page.
Per serving (approx.): 219 kcal, protein 9.7 g, carbs 21 g, fat 10 g, fibre 14 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Jul 13, 2026
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