Chole Curry

Thursday-Fridays are weekend in Riyadh, but this weekend shall be working weekend for us, as P overloaded with work, has to be in office. But this won't stop me from having a nice weekend, I've decided to give P a small treat, which he duly deserves, so I shall be preparing nice Chole curry, Sindhi Koki and raita along with papad and salad for dinner tonight.
During these 5 or so odd years of experimenting in kitchen, one thing I've learnt is that more simpler the recipe, the better the dish tastes. The thing is, limited spices gives greater flavor and aroma to any dish. So I shall be preparing chole with minimum spices but with nice aromatic fennel seeds to give "hmm...." to the dish.
I've tasted chole prepared by adding all spices like bay leaf and cashew and what not, prepared painstakingly, cooked for long time etc but believe me this recipe is one of the best I've tasted. Thanks Mommy, you're the best.

Ground to fine paste:
2 large onions
1 1/2 tbs fennel/saunf seeds
2 tbs sesame/til seeds
1 tsp cumin/jeera seeds

1 cup dry chick peas, soaked for 7-8 hours or overnight and pressure cooked/boiled, yields about 3-31/2 cups of cooked chick peas.
1 tsp nigella/kalonji/black onion seeds
2 tbs oil
1 1/2 tbs ginger-garlic paste
2 cups tomato puree or 2 tbs tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
handful of chopped fresh coriander/parsley leaves
1 1/2 tbs chole masala
salt as per taste

Heat oil in heavy bottom pan, add nigella seeds to it and once its sputters add the ground paste of onion to it. Let the paste cook for 12-15 mins or till oil starts separating.
Now add ginger garlic paste and cook for 2-3 mins.
Add all dry masala except salt and chole masala and cook for few more mins. add a little water at this stage, if u find curry is too dry and is sticking to the bottom the the pan.
Add tomato puree and let it cook till the raw smell of tomato is gone. which takes almost 10-12 mins.
now add chole, salt and chole masala also add the water if u find curry is too thick. let this come to a boil and keep boiling it on slow flame for around 4-5 mins. this will help chole to soak up all the flavors.
garnish it with chopped coriander/parsley leaves.

serve it hot with rice, chappati, paratha, naan or bhature.

when cooking for party or some guests in evening, prepare this dish in morning itself .... believe me this dish tastes best when it rests for 5-6 hours after cooking.

my plan is to serve this with Sindhi Koki, a type of paratha/flat bread.... but with amazing twist.