Everyone loves eating chole, by which I mean chickpeas cooked in an ‘Indian style’. There are so many ways of cooking chickpeas in India that I won’t even try to list them. I have written in more detail about one way I do love to eat chole in this one-pot recipe post. There I had mentioned that you can either use a store-bought chole spice mix or you can make one yourself at home. This is an instant recipe for the spice mix I use when making chole at home.

Not everyone has access to a lot of the spices used in Indian cooking. It’s even harder when the recipe calls for whole spices. It’s often easier to find powdered spices, and so I thought I’d share a recipe for an instant spice mix. You can create this at home in no time and use it for chole like I did in my recipe here. All of these spices can be found in powdered form in most of the world, so all you have to do is combine them properly and store for whenever you want to make chole. Feel free to add more or less chilli according to your taste. Do remember that you are making a lot of this masala in one go. You will probably only use a tablespoon or two of this at most in one meal.

If you’re having difficulty finding the powdered spices listed here, then here’s a ‘shortcut’ recipe for you. Use a ‘Garam Masala’ spice blend instead of the following spices that you can then skip: coriander, cumin, nutmeg, clove, and cardamom. I think in cooking it’s important to work with the ingredients that are available to you. If you can’t find an ingredient and have to skip it, then just do that. It’s unfortunate but it’s not going to be a disaster. The end result might taste different than what the recipe intended, but you should still count it as a success.

According to me, the main ingredient for this spice blend is the dried mango powder. It has this unique sour-but-umami flavour that goes lovely with chickpeas. You should be able to find it at any Indian grocery store, but if you can’t find it then just try to look for new ways of adding some sort of acidity to your food.

Instant Chole Masala

Recipe by EshCourse: StaplesCuisine: IndianDifficulty: 1

Prep time

2

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp Amchur (dried mango) powder

• 2 Tbsp Coriander powder

• 1 Tbsp Cumin powder

• 1 Tbsp Cardamom powder

• 1 Tbsp Clove powder

• ½ Tbsp Chilli powder

• ½ Tbsp Smoked Paprika

• 2 tsp Cinnamon

• 2 tsp Black pepper

• 2 tsp Onion powder

• 2 tsp Garlic powder

• 1 tsp Ginger powder

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1 tsp Kala namak (black salt)

• 1 tsp Nutmeg powder

Directions

• Add all the spices to a dry bowl and mix thoroughly.
• Store in a spice jar or an air-tight container.

Notes

• Can you use this spice blend to season food other than chickpeas? It would be a crime for me to stop you. Go for it!
• After you have made this once, you should really think about what aspects of it you liked and disliked. Then, the next time you make it you should add more of the things you liked and less of the things you disliked.

Header photo by Prachi Palwe on Unsplash