Sindhi Chutney Masala Chole (Garbanzo beans in Cilantro Sauce)

Gurpurv (Guru Nanak's birthday) brings back lovely memories for me.
Mom n I would wake up at 4 in the morning and walk or drive to the Gurdwara or temple. Although the world was quiet on our way there, the Gurdwara itself was hub of activity and prayers even that early in the morning.
We would offer our prayers upstairs and then come down to start our "seva" (service). There was plenty to be done- peel potatoes and carrots, trim the coriander (cilantro leaves), knead the dough for the puris (although this was usually done by the men).
We would usually sit down in the circle of the ladies rolling out the puris that would soon be deep fried in huge ( and I'm talking huge) kadais. I think the first time I did seva to roll out these puris, I was in a bit of shock.
The dough did not want to make round puris for me!
The aunty sitting next to me would kindly peel off my Australia shaped puri, press it back in to a ball and roll out the perfect circle herself.
I was mortified!
Luckily I got better....and my puris made it to the kadais without getting hijacked first!
The morning and afternoon would just go by like that- hours and hours of rolling out puris and doing seva(service). The Langar (meal served to everyone) after the prayers tasted even more amazing.
Every muscle in my body would ache by the time I reached home, but there was this sense of peace that I can not express. I felt humbled and happy.
Here in Chicago, we usually go to the Gurdwara to celebrate Gurpurv, but it's usually on the weekend. Today I just made Kara Prasad and Jal and all of us sat down to pray for a little bit. This weekend we'll go to the Palatine Gurdwara and eat some tasty Langar.
May be it'll be something like what the Bombay Foodie's mom made for her?!
I've been dreaming of proper Punjabi Chole ever since I read that post.
Today though, dinner was Sindhi Chutney Masala Chole(chick peas).
We usually make chole in a heavy carmalized onion gravy but this one calls for a cilantro based gravy that is unique to Sindhi cooking. This gravy can also be used to make Seyel Maani or to cook potatoes and Okra in.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 small onions or 1 large onion
• 1 bunch of coriander or cilantro leaves washed and trimmed
  
• 1-2 green chilies
• 1 small piece of ginger
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 2-3 tomatoes chopped or 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dhaniya powder (coriander seed powder)
• ½ teaspoon of haldi (turmeric)
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup of strained tamarind water or 1 heaped tablespoon of amchur (mango powder)
• 1 cup water
  
• 2-3 tablespoons oil
• 1 can drained and rinsed chole (Garbanzo beans) or 2 cups cooked from dry beans
  

Method:

Place the first five ingredients in a food processor and process till finely minced.

Heat the oil in a deep pan. Add the processed mixture in to the pan and fry for a few minutes. Once the water has evaporated, add the tomatoes and dry masalas (spices).Cook till all the moisture has evaporated and the chutney comes together. At this point, it will be very thick.

Add the chole (beans) to the pan and mix for two minutes on high heat. Add a cup of water and cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot with sliced bread, rotis or naan or if you aren't on a diet, check out this Bhature recipe at Bombay Foodie.

I'm gonna send this over to Simona's Legume Affair as well. Thie event was started by Susan- The Well Seasoned Cook.