1.24.2009

JFI Chickpea: Homemade Chana Chor Garam Experiment























Chana chor garam is one of those wonderful street side snacks that no one I know even attempts to make at home. This five rupee slightly salty and sour snack with minute onions and tomatoes was the highlight of the walk we used to take at the lake near our house.

For those unfamilar with it, Chana chor garam is made by flattening Desi Chickpeas or Kala chana into disks and then frying it. It is served in paper cones with condiments like onions, tomatoes, black salt, lime juice etc. Packed with protein and vegetables this snack is healthy and filling.

Now in the US, Haldiram markets Chana chor garam but these are generally the size of a penny and thick - about 1 mm. The ones the hawkers at the lake near my house sold were about an inch in diameter , really thin like a cornflake and they just melted in the mouth.

So for JFI Chickpeas, I tried a brief and alas not too successful experiment to recreate the thin and light version of chana chor garam. I soaked the desi chana(both black and green - with visions of a multicolored and very pretty chana chor garam) in water overnight and then squished it using a small katori or cup as seen in the picture above. I then deep fried these in a small pan of oil, and then put salt and cayenne pepper on the results, as in the picture below.

The result was pretty tasty but i cannot call it chana chor garam. More like desi chana deep fry! . I also tried squishing them after boiling them, i got them pretty thin then but had no way to separate them from the squishing instrument aka the katori :)

Anybody with a better idea or having inside info on how this thing is made, do let me know!




6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love chana chor... & that haldiram packet does not last a day when we buy it. But alas i have no clue how to make them.

may be i ask in my in laws place when i call next time.. i remember eating the home made ones, being send from the farms they have...

suvi said...

Oh we love chana chor garam...though I hv no idea of how to make it. And now I am craving it, must check if we get Haldiram's here.

vidhas said...

yummy recipe. Yours looks tempting

Anonymous said...

Wow…that chana jor looks inspired. I always wondered how it was made, must have required a lot of patience to mash the chick peas without breaking them! I guess another round of experiment and it will work out perfect. Cheers!

Usha said...

I love chana chor garam, but like the others here have no idea how to make them...I never really gave it any thought....

Mokita said...

hi there,
i have some vague idea as to chana jor garam... its something like pressure cook them till cooked almost 3/4th. i hope u understand... not done whole way thru but just enough that they are not raw neither mushy. then place handful of chana between plastic sheets and roll each one by tapping it a bit and then using a rolling pin to roll out into flat disk shapes. Also be sure that chana arent too watery during this step, hence dry them out a bit. plastic helps manage chana without it being stuck to the rolling pin.
i havent tried this recipe myself as yet... but my mom gave me this insight. hope this works for u.
by the way i was just browsing some things and came along ur blog. i must congratulate u for the good work ur doing. keep it up.
do revert if u have any doubts or just in case u try out this method... wud love to share the results... as i plan to try this in few days.