Chana Pulao is a simple, easy rice recipe rich in flavours. It is a one-pot recipe that goes best with any raita. This pulao is made with basmati rice, white chickpeas, and Indian spices.
One-pot meals are one of my favorite types of meals. They are easy to cook and most of the time- so satisfying. This chickpea pulao is so easy to make and trust me, It is a delicious recipe. This pulao is also a famous recipe in Pakistani cuisine too.
This recipe can also be made in instant pot too. I will surely share the instant pot in a separate post very soon. Before moving to the recipe, let me quickly remind you what is pulao actually? Pulao is a rice-based dish cooked in stock along with the vegetables, meat and other spices. I have already shared different pulao recipes here on the blog before.
reasons to love this chana pulao recipe,
- prepared under 10 ingredients
- heavenly awesome
- perfect tiffin box recipe
- 20 min recipe
- you can extend the recipe with your favorite veggies
- easy to prepare
- easy to digest
- ingredients are easily available
What is chickpea pulao made of?
This pulao is made from white chickpeas. I always prefer to use basmati rice variety for any pulao and biryani recipe. It gives the perfect texture and enhances the taste of the pulao.
For the spices, I used regular Indian spices like cinnamon, black cardamom, bay leaf, cumin, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and a pinch of garam masala.
For the vegetables, I used carrots and green beans in this pulao. You can use cauliflower and peas as well. You can even completely avoid adding vegetables too.
So, moral of the story is, chickpeas and rice are the hero ingredients of the recipe 😉
How to make chickpea pulao?
Soaking rice and preparing chickpeas,
Soak chickpea for 5 to 6 hours or overnight. drain it and pressure cook it for 3 whistles. You can even use canned chickpeas in this recipe too.
soak rice for 60 minutes (if you have time other wise skip this section).
Pulao preparation,
heat oil in a pan. add cumin. Also, add bay leaf, cinnamon, black cardamom.
when they crackle add onions and saute until it turns light brown(DO NOT CARAMELIZE ONIONS). Also, add ginger garlic paste and green chili.
add beans, carrots, chickpeas.
Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, salt and garam masala. mix well.
Add soaked rice and mix well. Now, add water and cook rice on a medium flame. Water will be absorbed after 15 minutes. (Sometimes it will take 20 minutes too)
garnish with coriander.
serve hot with smoked pepper raita.
More pulao recipes on the blog,
Chickpea Pulao, easy chana pulao recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1½ cup water, to soak rice
- ½ cup dry chickpeas, *check notes
- 1½ cup water, to soak cickpeas
- 2 tablespoon ghee / clarified butter
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 black cardamom
- ½ cinnamon
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 small green chili, optional
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- salt totaste
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 3 cup water
- coriander, for garnishing
- ½ cup green beans, chopped
- ½ cup carrots, chopped
Instructions
Soaking rice and preparing chickpeas,
- Soak chickpea for 5 to 6 hours or overnight. drain it and pressure cook it for 3 whistles. You can even use canned chickpeas in this recipe too.
- soak rice for 60 minutes (if you have time other wise skip this section)
Pulao preparation,
- heat oil in a pan. add cumin. Also, add bay leaf, cinnamon, black cardamom.
- when they crackle add onions and saute until it turns light brown(DO NOT CARAMELIZE ONIONS). Also, add ginger garlic paste.
- add beans, carrots, chickpeas.
- Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, salt, and garam masala. mix well.
- Add soaked rice and mix well. Now, add water and cook rice on a medium flame. Water will be absorbed after 15 minutes. (Sometimes it will take 20 minutes too)
- garnish with coriander.
- serve hot with smoked pepper raita.
Video
Notes
- You can use canned chickpeas in this recipe. Use 1 full can of chickpeas.
Priya, your Chana Pulao looks amazly good and the best thing is that it made with pantry items we have on hand.
I’ll be making this, but I’ll wait for the Instant Pot version as I love doing rice dishes in our IP.
Thank you so much Ron 🙂 Yes, I will be sharing soon. Waiting for your feedback.
Oh, my – this looks incredible and I think I will make it for Monday supper. Would this be considered Goan cuisine? I love that it is versatile and the vegetables can be changed.
Thank you David.. Actually the spices used here are inspired by north Indian cuisine. But Goan cuisine is very similar though.
Priya — this was just delicious! The flavors and textures were perfect and I have to admit that it was so good that we both ate too much! This will become a regular on our house! (We used carrots and peas, as that is what we had on hand.)
Thank you so much David 🙂 I am glad you like this recipe.
What a fabulous recipe! So easy and tasty! I’ll definitely be making this one again!
Thank you so much for the recipe!
This is one of my fav dish. This + potato chips = match made in heaven
Amazing Recipe thanks..
That’s something I have never tried before.. Thank You so much for sharing such amazing recipe..