Choliya Aloo(Green Chickpea and Potato)

Winter is the season when fresh green chickpeas are abundantly available in the market. They don’t have the texture or the taste of dry chickpeas at all. They look and taste like a fresh vegetable.

The tender leaves of chickpeas are also eaten as vegetable. My mother used to make ‘Saag’ with it’s leaves.

On the eve of Holi (the festival of color in India), we have a tradition to roast the stems containing pods in the bonfire to get roasted cholia. It is believed that eating roasted choliya brings good luck.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh Hara Chana (Green Chickpea)
• 1 medium potato peeled and diced
• ½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 medium onion chopped finely
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp amchoor powder (raw mango powder)
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• Salt to taste
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• Chopped fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

• Heat the cooking oil in a frying pan, on medium heat. When hot, add the cumin seeds and fry till spluttering stops.
• Add the chopped onion, and fry till soft. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry till little dark.
• Add the diced potato and Green Chana. Fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Add red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Sprinkle 3-4 tbsp of water on the vegetables and mix well. Cover the pan and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, till the vegetables are almost done. Now remove the cover from the pan and cook till water is almost absorbed.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with hot Chapatis (Indian flatbread) or Parathas (pan-fried Indian flatbread).

Pods of Green Chickpea

Green Chickpeas

Do You Know?

Holika Dahan or the lighting of bonfire takes place on the eve of Holi. The day is also popularly called 'Chhoti Holi' or the 'Small Holi'.
Holika Dahan is an extremely popular tradition and is celebrated with fervor all across the country and is symbolic of triumph of good over evil. There are numerous legends associated with this ancient tradition and it is difficult to pin-point as to when actually the tradition started.