One day I watched Utho Jagoa Pakistan with Shaista Wahadi.
On her show that day obecause she was in Lahore. Arif Lohar was a guest on the show.
He was talking about chikar ki cholay. He talked about how delicious it is. Ok from here I made a decision on how to look up this recipe and read and learn how to make this dish.
Now for my adaptation of making this yummy dish without further adieu:
In my motar and pestle I added 1 piece each of amchur, garam masala, turmeric and cinnamon stick if I am not using 1 pinch of cinnamon powder, star anise, kabab chini, clove, strand of mace, grated nutmeg that equals to 1 pinch.
I added to that 1 pinch each of cumin seeds, caraway seeds, black cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, black pepper corns, coriander seeds and ground it in to coarse powder then set aside.
Before I made this masala for this dish from the whole spices I always use and here in my house, I washed and soaked 1 cup each of masoor ki dal (red lentils) and Kabuli chana ( chick peas or garbanzo beans) with 2 pinches of baking soda to soften the beans.
The Kabuli chana can be either white or black. It doesn’t matter because they taste the same. They soaked for 3 hours then I rinsed them very well and added it to my pressure cooker.
I added 1 quart or 1 liter of water and turned on to high heat. Just make sure the water is covering the beans.
I added the contents from my mortar and pestle, 1 pinch each of dry methi (fenugreek) leaves, pink salt, red chili powder, powder because I didn’t use a stick.
I pressure cooked the bean and lentil mix for 20 minutes after the safety button popped up.
When time was up I turned off the heat and let pressure escape. When the safety button went down I checked the beans and they was nice and soft.
I took out my immersion blender and blended this until you can’t see anymore beans.
There was plenty of liquid in the beans and this is what you want. you don’t want dry beans.
In another pot this time a caldero I added 1/4 cup of olve oil, 1 whole red chili crumbled and 3 cloves of garlic to make the tarka.
This time I did opposite I added the bean and lentil mix that I had pureed in to the pot.
On very high heat I cooked this mix until it got to a very thick consistency and looking like mud.
It was bubbling like mad so I had to turn the heat down to a simmer and kept stirring. You don’t want this to burn.
When it got to a very thick consistency I shut the heat off and let it cool.
Now it really looks like mud and that is why it is called chickar ki cholay which means muddy peas in Urdu.
I garnish this with 1 medium piece of ginger peeled and cut in to slivers. They should be match stick size like you do for haleem.
I added 3 pinches each of cilantro and 3 kinds of sev.
I added 1 small onion or shallot sliced and made in to rings.
The dish is ready to be eaten with naan or chapati. P.S. Instant pot and other multi functional cookers on sauté function, add olive oil the cloves of garlic to brown for reverse tarka then add the red chili.
After this add the masalas then the rinced masoor ki dal and Kabuli chana, pink salt, add water and pressure cook. Remove inner lining with beans inside, mash with potato masher and puree with immersion blender. Place the beans in the inner lining and once again turn on sauté function and stir until it is a thick glop then turn off cooker and garnish with raw onions sliced so they can be made in to rings and sev.
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