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Zehra Chhapiwala

Chana Bateta

Bohri style Black Chickpeas and Potatoes in Tamarind Sauce
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Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings: 3
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • Tamarind Sauce
  • 1/4 cup tamarind
  • 1/3 cup jaggery
  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
  • 1 tablespoon besan/ chickpea flour
  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • salt to taste
  • Chana Bateta
  • 1 +1/2 cups kala chana/black chickpeas washed and soaked overnight
  • 1 cup diced potatoes
  • 1 onion finely chopped (optional)
  • 1 tomato finely chopped (optional)
  • 2 cloves garlic minced (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 2 teaspoons hawaj
  • lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • salt to taste
  • To serve
  • Sev
  • Tamarind sauce
  • Chopped onion

Method
 

  1. Tamarind Sauce (It can be made a day before and stored in an air tight container)
  2. Soak tamarind in water for a few hours till its pulp is soft.
  3. Strain the pulp and keep aside.
  4. In a pan, heat oil and add red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and besan and stir.
  5. To this add the tamarind pulp and jaggery.
  6. Let it simmer till all the ingredients blend well and the sauce has a thick consistency.
  7. Chana Bateta
  8. Soak black chana in water overnight.
  9. Boil the chana in the morning along with potatoes.
  10. Add salt in the water when boiling.
  11. Peel and cut potatoes into cube sizes pieces and keep aside.
  12. Heat oil in a pan and add salt, red chilli powder, hawaj (a mix of coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala).
  13. Add a ladle of water to prevent the masala from burning.
  14. To this, add the boiled chana and potatoes and mix well.
  15. Remove it from stove and squeeze lime in it and mix.
  16. To Serve
  17. In a bowl, take chana bateta and top it with tamarind sauce.
  18. Serve hot or at room temperature garnished with coriander leaves.
  19. Alternatively one could also garnish it with chopped onions and jhini sev. In summers, add beaten curd laced with chaat masala and black salt for a cool yet tangy flavour.
  20. This hearty snack can be served as a side dish during lunch or can be had as dinner

Notes

Zehra stays in India and I (Sheetal) am based in Singapore. Zehra walked me through the recipe and I recreated Chana Bateta in my Singaporean kitchen. In the picture here I have made thick gravy by sautéing onion, garlic and tomato in oil before adding the spices and boiled chana and bateta to it. I mixed the tamarind sauce in the bowl before taking pictures of the dish. The measures of ingredients are to our taste you may make changes according to your palate