Palak chole is a delicious north indian spinach and chickpeas curry. It is hearty, vegan, gluten-free and super nutritious.
Making spinach sauce for palak chole is very similar to making spinach gravy for dishes like palak paneer minus the butter & heavy cream. With autumn on its way, paired with a warm bowl of cumin rice or rotis, it makes for a soul comforting dinner.
During winters, a ton of greens were harvested from the vegetable garden at my grandma and I grew up eating palak paneer or palak rotis every other day. Spinach sauces are my absolute favorite and I got my kids hooked on to them as well right from the time they were babies.
About Palak Chole
Palak = Spinach , Chole or Chana = White Chickpeas (garbanzo beans).
Also known as palak chana/chole palak or saag chana/chana saag (when you add a variety of green leafy vegetables), this punjabi style curry is packed with goodness of spinach.
Making palak chole is really simple. Since I like cooking chickpeas from scratch, I do so a day or two ahead by boiling the chickpeas. You could totally use canned chickpeas! You can also making the spinach puree ahead and keep refrigerated.
For the spinach sauce, simply we are going to a simple onion-tomato masala base with addition of few whole spices and simmer the spinach and chickpeas together in it until beautiful flavors develop.
As with most curries, the spinach sauce tastes very good next day because the flavors get a chance to absorb as the curry rests.
Since I keep the consistency of palak chole curry on a thick side, it can be used to make wraps or easily packed in lunch boxes.
About My Recipe
Here are a few things I would like to highlight about my recipe.
- I don't over-spice spinach dishes, the taste of my palak chole recipe is homestyle. It is a hearty curry that you will love eating all curled up on the couch.
- The spinach sauce has a thickish consistency. Whenever I am making spinach sauces, I am a extra careful. I add the stock or water slowly, simmer and then add some more as needed. Ideally, I don't like the liquid/water separating from the sauce when you ladle it on a plate. The stock from boiling the chickpeas is very delicious and I use it while sauteeing the masala as well as to thin out the sauce. That said, please feel free to adjust the consistency as you wish.
- The Secret Ingredient- A few florets of broccoli! I learnt to add it from one of my favorite frozen indian food brands here. Okay they haven't shared the recipe with me, but lets say I am the one who reads labels keenly 🙂 I like adding a few just 4 or 5 florets of broccoli to the spinach sauce. You won't taste it, I promise. Boil the broccoli along with the spinach and puree them together. I feel it adds a very nice texture and robustness to the spinach sauce. Again this is fully optional.
Ingredients
- Chickpeas
- Fresh spinach or frozen
- Ground Spice - Coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder , amchoor (dry mango powder) or lemon juice
- Mustard Oil (or any cooking oil of choice)
- Whole Spices - Bay leaf, clove, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, fennel seeds
- Tomato- Fresh or canned. You could use tomato sauce/ tomato puree as well.
- Other Ingredients - ginger, garlic, green chillies, kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, skip if not available), salt. Store bought ginger garlic paste is fine to use.
How to make Palak Chole
The process starts with making spinach puree and boiling the chickpeas. Pressure boiling chole from scratch takes about 20-25 minutes. You may start working on the masala base in the mean time. Once done and cook the spinach and chickpeas together for about 20-30 minutes.
Spinach Puree
For making palak chole, I prefer to use cooking spinach or spinach bunch. The leaves of cooking spinach are darker and thick as compared to baby spinach. It is easily available in the greens aisle in stores(I have seen bagged ones too).
You can choose baby spinach as well but I personally feel that the thicker stems and the large cooking spinach leaves are much flavorful and can stand up to the sautéing.
Frozen Spinach is fine to use as well. It eliminates the need to blanch the spinach. Simply thaw the frozen spinach and blend it.
Cooking Chickpeas
Canned chickpeas are perfectly fine to use.
Why I use scratch boiled chickpeas then?
First reason is that I grew up seeing it. It is a very common practice in indian kitchens to soak the raw chickpeas overnight (8-10hours). And then pressure cook. I am so programmed to using chickpeas or for that matter any kind of raw beans, that I still stick to this practice in my own kitchen.
Secondly, and more importantly, soaking and boiling the raw chickpeas at home gives you the most delicous stock/broth that really adds to the taste of the spinach sauce.
Make The Masala Base
Make a simple homestyle onion tomato masala base with a few whole spices thrown in, similar how what I have shared many times in recipes on the blog. Most north indian curries have an onion-tomato-ginger-garlic masala base as a starting point quite comparable to sofrito. In this recipe I add, cinnamon, cloves and few pods of green cardamom to add warmth to the spinach sauce.
Simmer the spinach puree together with cooked chickpeas (and the stock or water) and finish with garam masala and kasuri methi(dried fenugreek).
Chole Palak Recipe Tips
- Green color of Spinach Sauce - Over the years, I have seen many discussions about the color of spinach sauce and read many articles on how to preserve it etc etc. If you ask me, there is no right or wrong. The color of the sauce is simply dependent on how long you sauté the spinach puree with the masala base. I personally like the sauce to be well sautéed and even though it loses the bright green color in the process, I love the deep smoky flavor that comes along.
- Spinach Puree - I prefer to keep the spinach on a slightly coarse side while blending however you can blend to a smooth puree.
- Add Tadka (Optional)- Many times, for added flavor, to the finished curry, I add a tempering of crisped cumin seeds and red chili powder. Try it!
- Add Store Bought or Homemade Chana Masala Spice Blend- Add 1 teaspoon of your favorite chana masala powder to the curry if you wish. It gets super flavorful.
- Finish the curry with a dollop of ghee and a tablespoon of heavy cream if you wish.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve with indian flatbreads like roti or plain paratha.
- Pair with steamed basmati rice.
Palak Chole Recipe
Ingredients
For Cooking Chickpeas (Skip if using canned chickpeas)
- 1 cup (~200g) raw chickpeas or 15oz canned chickpeas, drained
- 3 cup water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leaf
- Pinch baking soda
For The Spinach Puree
- 1 cup water
- 4-5 broccoli florets , optional
- 12-15 oz spinach
- ⅛ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 clove
For The Spinach Sauce
- 4 tablespoon mustard oil (or any cooking oil of choice)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seed
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 2 green cardamom cloves
- 2-3 Thai green chillies (adjust to tolerance) , slit
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- ½ inch ginger julinned
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¾ teaspoon red chili powder hot, adjust to taste
- 1 cup onion finely chopped
- ¾ cup tomato (1 large tomato, finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, optional but recommended)
- ¾ teaspoon garam masala or chana masala powder or kitchen king masala
Instructions
Cook Chickpeas. This can be a done a day in advance. Skip if using canned
- Wash the chickpeas under running water. Soak in enough water overnight(8-10 hours).1 cup (~200g) raw chickpeas
- Next morning, drain and add chickpeas to a pressure cooker with 3 cups water, oil and teaspoon salt.
- Pressure cook for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft. You could cook in instant pot as well. Discard the bay leaf and reserve the stock. Place the boiled chickpeas in a separate bowl.
Make The Spinach Puree
- Thoroughly wash the spinach leaves. Roughly chop the stems and leaves if they are too big. If you feel that few stems are too stringy, discard.12-15 oz spinach, 4-5 broccoli florets, 2 clove
- Add 1 cup water to a cooking pot along with cloves and fennel seeds. Bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling,broccoli florets to it. Let cook for 3-4 minutes and the add the spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the broccoli is dark green in color.
- Add the vegetables along with leftover liquid to a food processor. Also add the cloves and fennel seeds. Pulse to make a puree. I do not like to make a smooth puree however you can blend to desired texture/consistency. Set the blended spinach aside.
Make Masala for Palak Chole
- Heat up oil on high in a heavy bottomed cooking pot.4 tablespoon mustard oil, 1 cup onion, ⅛ teaspoon fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seed, 2 green cardamom cloves, 1 small cinnamon stick
- Once the oil is smoky, reduce the heat to medium & wait for 1-2 minutes. Temper with cumin, cinnamon, and green cardamom. If you are using canned chickpeas, add a bay leaf as well.
- Add the garlic, green chillies and ginger next. Saute for 10-15 seconds taking care to not burn anything.
- Add the chopped onions next and sauté till the onions start to lightly brown.
- Next add all the ground spices(expect garam masala ), add a bit of chicpea stock and saute the spices for a minute or so.1 teaspoon garlic paste, ¾ cup tomato, ¼ teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 2-3 Thai green chillies (adjust to tolerance)
- Add the tomatoes, salt and sugar next. Continue to cook on medium low heat till you see oil separating on the sides of the pot. The tomatoes will soften and turn mushy.This may take 5-8 minutes.
- Add the spinach and chickpeas and mix well. Sauté with masala for 5-7 minutes until you see that the spinach is bubbly.1 cup (~200g) raw chickpeas, 12-15 oz spinach, ½ inch ginger, 4-5 broccoli florets
- Reduce the heat to low, add the reserved chickpea stock depending on the consistency of the sauce you like (I add about ½ cup). Mix well. Taste and adjust the salt if needed. If you need to thin out more, add water. Cover and let cook on low for 15-18 minutes1 teaspoon salt
- Check once or twice in between. The spinach will bubble a lot during cooking and you will need to stir it in between to avoid sticking to bottom. Also the spinach will change color to dull green and you will start seeing glisten on the sides of the pot. If you feel that the sauce is getting dry, add ¼ cup stock or water.
- Finish with kasuri methi and ¼ teaspoon garam masala. Let sit for 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm.1 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, optional but recommended), ¾ teaspoon garam masala
Notes
- Green color of Spinach Sauce - Over the years, I have seen many discussions about the color of spinach sauce and read many articles on how to preserve it etc etc. If you ask me, there is no right or wrong. The color of the sauce is simply dependent on how long you sauté the spinach puree with the masala base. I personally like the sauce to be well sautéed and even though it loses the bright green color in the process, I love the deep smoky flavor that comes along.
- Spinach Puree - I prefer to keep the spinach on a slightly coarse side while blending however you can blend to a smooth puree.
- Add Tadka (Optional)- Many times, for added flavor, to the finished curry, I add a tempering of crisped cumin seeds and red chili powder. Try it!
- Add Store Bought or Homemade Chana Masala Spice Blend- Add 1 teaspoon of your favorite chana masala powder to the curry if you wish. It gets super flavorful.
- Finish the curry with a dollop of ghee and a tablespoon of heavy cream if you wish.
Edith Kire
hi would I be able to get a breakdown of the nutritional value for this recipe, I'm using the chronometer app which records macronutrients etc , I notice that some of your recipes have the nutritional value and others don't . I wanted to record this recipe on the app.
thank you