The Tastiest Sprouted Chole Masala Recipe That Is Easy To Make

This sprouted chole masala recipe is a higher-protein take on the traditional chole masala that is a staple homely dish in most Indian and Pakistani homes around the world.

What Is Chole Masala?

Chole masala (pronounced chow-ley) is a saucy chickpea masala dish from Northern India. It is certainly comfort food because it is often paired with bhatura (deep fried bread).  Chole Masala is also known as Chhole or Chana Masala. The main difference is Chana Masala is a drier version of this masala dish, while Chole Masala is often more saucy.

Where Does Chole Masala Come From?

The historic origins of this dish is not completely black and white, as many sources have different tales of where it exactly came from. Nonetheless, many sources do agree on one thing: it has its roots traced back to The Middle East. Apparently, the idea of a spiced chickpea gravy found its way to the Indian subcontinent via Mughal trade routes, blending Persian, Turkish and Indian flavours into one beautiful dish.

What Is The Difference Between Sprouted and Regular Chickpeas?

Sprouting is a method used to help seeds develop and germinate, to produce new growth (shoots). This process is so powerful because increase the bioavailability (the extent to which absorption occurs) of nutrients in our body. Sprouting or even soaking legumes, grains or nuts can activate enzymes that break down the proteins and carbohydrates ensuring our bodies can absorb them better.

When you sprout chickpeas, the protein value increases a little over 30%. 100 grams of chickpeas is about 19g of protein, but when you sprout them, it contains over 25g of protein.

Sprouting also helps with digestion, reduces anti-nutrients, and helps regulate blood sugar.

How Should I Sprout Chickpeas?

Follow these steps to help you sprout almost any legume:

1. Wash 100g of dried chickpeas until the water comes clear. You must wash your dried legumes because it helps rinse any chemical residue that remains on the produce during manufacturing and packaging
2. In a clean tray with a large flat surface area, preferably a baking tray or loaf tin place the 100g of dried chickpeas.
3. Ideally you would want each unit of chickpeas to be laying flat on the surface of the tin, and not on top of each other. If they are crowding over each other, get a larger tin. This helps give the chickpeas enough space for the sprouting process.
4. Pour twice as much room temperature water (200g) in the tin. Never use hot water, you will kill the enzyme activity. Cold water will prevent any enzyme activity.
5. Place a large paper towel over the tin, and secure it over the tin like a lid, with a rubber band
6. Poke some holes over the paper towel to create that perfect humid environment for the legumes to sprout
7. Over the next two days, keep checking if the legumes have sprouted.
8. Once it has, wash the chickpeas and blanch them. I like to blanch them because it helps remove any growing bacteria on the legumes. After all, it has been sitting on the kitchen counter top for over 48 hours.
9. You can keep them in a container in the fridge for about 3 days before it starts to go moldy.

Making Your Sprouted Chole Masala Delicious

There are 3 tricks to making your chole masala as delicious as possible:

1. Use black tea water. This helps make that beautiful brown hue that chole masala is known for
2. There are 2 distinct spices that make a world of a difference: Amchur and Anardana (dry mango powder and dry pomegranate seed powder). Make sure you get it, or else you’re missing out on the best chole flavour yet.
3. The texture of the onions and tomatoes matter. Most people like to blend the onion and tomato into a puree. What I did was remove the skin of the tomatoes then grated it. I didn’t puree the onion but if you have time, definitely do it. It makes a smoother chole masala mixture and the flavours are all the more enhanced.

Before I got married, cooking Indian food used to intimidate me. I had no clue on how to make anything that I grew up eating. This was one of my first dishes I learnt when I was missing my mother’s cooking after moving out and figuring out how to cook this independently. Indian food can get a bit tricky, and creating that perfect blend of bitter and sweet, from the spices to the caramelized onions takes practice, but my recipe will break it down for you so you don’t need to break your head.

I hope you love this.

Sprouted Chole Masala

The Veggie Wifey

A high-protein sprouted chickpea take on the traditional saucy masala dish that is a staple meal in most Indian homes. Try this deliciously flavourful recipe

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Servings 2 people

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Sprouting 2 days d

Total Time 2 days d 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

• ▢ 100 g sprouted chickpeas that have been blanched

Masala Base

• ▢ 2 medium tomatoes
• ▢ 1 medium onion
• ▢ 1 tbsp ginger grated
• ▢ 1 tbsp garlic grated
• ▢ 1 green chilli chopped

Masala Spices (whole)

• ▢ 2 bay leaves
• ▢ 1/2 stick of cinnamon 3 inches
• ▢ 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• ▢ 2 green cardamon crushed (optional)

Masala Spices (powder)

• ▢ 1/2 tsp turmeric
• ▢ 1/4 tsp red chilli powder optional
• ▢ 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• ▢ 1 tsp coriander powder
• ▢ 1 tsp amchur dry mango powder
• ▢ 1/2 tsp pink salt or more to taste
• ▢ 1/2 tsp anardana dry pomegranate seed powder

Garnishes

• ▢ 1 tsp ghee
• ▢ 1 tbsp kasoori methi dried fenugreek leaves

Condiments (Sirke Wale Pyaaz, Picked Onions)

• ▢ 1/2 white onion sliced
• ▢ 1/2 lemon juice squeezed
• ▢ 50 g fresh coriander leaves leaves chopped and stems chopped separately, root cut off

Instructions

Soaking Chickpeas In Tea

• place the sprouted blanched chickpeas in 2 cups of water mixed with 1 tbsp of black tea. You can use a metal tea diffuser or a muslin cloth to place the tea leaves in the water to avoid the micoplastics in the store-bought tea bag.
• let this soak for the duration of your prep

Prepping The Tomatoes and Onions

• next, get a small pot and pour water to cover 3/4 of the pot, bring to boil
• remove the calyx and peduncle from the tomato, and turn it over
• using a sharp knife, slice a large cross ‘X’ mark on the bottom of the tomato
• place the cross marked tomatoes in the boiling water and remove until you see the skin starting to shrivel
• once the skin appears to be peeling off the tomato, remove from the boiling water and place on a medium sized dish to cool down
• once it is cool, peel the skin off the tomatoes and then grate until it reaches a smooth puree form. You can use a blender for this as well if you like.
• cut the onions into small dices. You can also puree the onions as well if you like.

Cooking The Chole

• in a large cast iron kadai or casserole, heat up 1 tbsp of high-smoke point oil (avocado oil)
• fry the whole masala spices (see above) until fragrant
• add the onions, and fry until it is brown and caramalised
• add the tomato puree and stir until the the water from the tomatoes have evaporated
• add the ginger, garlic and chillies. Stir it in until it is fragrant
• once the mixture has thickened, add the powdered masalas (see above)
• combine it together with the mixture so it is completely mixed in
• pour in the chickpeas with the tea water** see notes if you would like to add the chickpeas later to retain nutritional value of sprouts. Add the water bit-by-bit, as you don't want to flood the masala and dilute it. You may only need half of that, depending on the cookware you are using and how high your flame is.
• gently stir the mixture together until fully combined
• cover the kadai or casserole with the lid and let it cook for about 15 minutes
• once the mixture has thickened, taste test to see if this needs more salt.

Garnishing

• Finish off the dish with the garnishes. Add the kasoori methi first by crushing it in the palm of your hand and sprinkling it over the dish. Then before serving, place the ghee on the top.
• Pair this with the pickled onions, bread or bhatura (fried bread) and enjoy!

Notes

Retaining the nutritional value of the sprouts:

You can add the sprouted chickpeas later or at the last stage when the tea water has been combined into the mixture. This helps retain the nutritional value of the sprouts, as they lose nutritional value when heated. 

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