Chane Ka Shorba | Indian Spiced Chickpea Soup
Friday, June 08, 2012
I am seriously done with restaurants that serve
greasy & spice laden food in the name of Punjabi Cuisine. I didn't grow up eating Punjabi food, but I for sure know that what you get in such restaurants is not what is typically cooked in a Punjabi household. So, when I happen to visit a Punjabi restaurant, I am always on the lookout for something that has subtle flavours & is relatively less greasy. For how long can one enjoy the very rich Paneer Butter Masala & Butter or Butter Kulcha anyways?
We went out for dinner at this typical Punjabi restaurant many moons ago & I happened to order Chane ka Shorba - A delicately spiced Indian Chickpea Soup. It is not very often that I try to recreate what I order at fancy restaurants but then I fell in love with this shorba so I had to make this again.
This Shorba was originally made with Kaale Chane or Black Chickpeas. Since, I didn't have any on hand, I made use of the white one. I reckon, you can even use Sprouted Chickpeas.
Since, I didn't have a recipe on hand, this is loosely based on whatever my tastebuds could predict. But then, it was really really close to the original :)
You Will Need:
- 1/2 cup chickpeas - soaked overnight or for 8hrs
- 1 big onion - roughly chopped
- 2 medium sized tomatoes - roughly chopped
- 3 green chillies
- 1 tsp Everest Chole Masala
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1/4 cup cream or 1/2 cup milk
- Salt as per taste
- 1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
- 2 tsp butter
- 2 cups water/vegetable stock
- Fresh coriander for garnish
How To:
- Pressure cook chickpeas, with a pinch of salt, until soft. Set aside.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, heat butter. Splutter cumin seeds. Add onions & tomatoes along with green chillies, ginger-garlic paste. Saute for a couple of mins. Add Choley Masala & saute until the onions & tomatoes are soft & mushy. Set aside & allow it to cool
- Blend together chicikpeas & the onion tomato mixture until smooth.
- Strain into a soup pot. Add 2 cups of water/vegetable stock & heat it gently. Add Garam Masala, Salt to taste & cream. Simmer for about 10 mins on low heat.
- If using milk instead of cream, reduce the amount of water/vegetable stock
- Garnish with fresh coriander & Serve Hot
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