Blogging marathon gives an amazing opportunity to cook with ingredients that I have never used before. The recipe I made today is something very new to me and I have never tasted it before. I have peeled a lot of fresh chana back in the days when we lived in Northern India, but all I remember is eating it as is. But, I don’t have any recollection of any kind of recipe that my mother made with it. Again I mostly peeled the fresh garbanzo beans for the land lord aunty. I don’t think amma ever cooked anything with it.
So when I was thinking of doing some regional dishes for last year’s Mega BM, I chose Haryana as one of my state and I made few recipes for the thali. This Hara Cholia Paneer Subzi is one recipe that I had made then and we all loved it. The local Indian store had the fresh garbanzo beans, but I was too lazy to peel a whole bunch for the subzi. So I ended up buying a small amount to eat fresh and then to make the subzi I bought the frozen beans.
The Hara Cholia Paneer Subzi was very flavorful and the fresh beans taste much different from the dried beans that I use often. I definitely need to make it again when I buy the fresh ones instead of the frozen ones. I was initially thinking of skipping the paneer in the recipe, but I added it as we all like paneer. It was a good decision as it added a different layer of flavor and texture to the subzi.
The other recipes I made for the thali –
Besan ki Pinni
Bajra roti
Aloo Raita
Jeera Rice
Hara Cholia Paneer subzi
Preparation time – 20 minutes
Cooking time – 45 minutes
Difficulty level – easy
Recipe adapted from – Here
Ingredients to make Hara Cholia Paneer Subzi – serves 4
- Green chana / fresh Garbanzo beans / Hara cholia – 2 cups (I used frozen ones)
- Paneer – 200 gms (cubed)
- Onion – 1 large (finely chopped)
- Tomatoes – 3 (chopped)
- Green chilies – 2
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Red chili powder – 1 tsp
- Dhania jeera powder – 1 tsp
- Garam masala – 1 tsp
- Chana masala – 2 tsp
- Cilantro – for garnish
- Salt – to taste
- Oil – 2 tbsp
Procedure –
- If using fresh chana, remove the beans from the skin. I used frozen green garbanzo beans. Cook the beans with enough water and salt in pressure cooker for about 4 whistles.
- Chop the paneer into bite size cubes and then keep it immersed in warm water to soften it.
- In a pan, heat the oil and then add the cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions and sauté until it turns translucent.
- Then aAdd all the dry masala powders and sauté it for about a minute. Make sure to aAdd just enough salt needed for the masala as the chana is already cooked with salt.
- Add the tomato and fry until the tomatoes are cooked and the masala becomes aromatic.
- Add the cooked chana with the water and let it come to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes and then add the paneer cubes.
- Simmer for about 5 to 8 more minutes stirring carefully to avoid breaking the paneer pieces.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve.
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