Instant Pot Chickpea Potato Curry is a delicious, satisfying vegetarian dish. This is an easy to make Indian curry. Chickpeas and potatoes are pressure cooked and simmered in tomato puree and are served with hot India bread Bhatura or poori.
Weekends are special why if you ask? Its the time we get together as family to eat all meals together. I grew up in Delhi where chickpea potato curry and bhatura is special weekend treat. Mom used to make this as a special weekend treat for us.
Chickpea potato curry is a famous Indian dish and is cooked in many variations like no onion no garlic version, dry to semi or curry version. The signature Delhi version of chickpea potato curry is where the curry is dark brown in color. This dark color comes as chickpeas are soaked with tea bags and dry goose berries. The curry is cooked in iron skillet which further enhances the dark brown color.
When I attempted to make Instant Pot Chickpea potato curry, my thoughts were on making this as a complete one pot meal. I had no intent of using the skillet for getting the dark brown color. Yes, color is very important for us. We relish this dish a lot for both flavor and color, true Delhi style. We love eating this curry so much that whenever we visit Delhi. We make sure we visit our favorite restaurant and eat this curry.
I made this Instant Pot Chickpea Potato curry some time back. Since today is Friday, I am planing to make this curry again on weekend. This is an easy, delicious one pot meal served with hot Bhatura, vegetable raita and mango pickle. Yum is the word. Try it and am sure you will nod yes with me.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you give this recipe a try, do let me know. Leave a comment,Pin it, or take a picture and tag it #cookingyoulove on Instagram. I would love to know how it turned out for you.
- 2 cups chickpeas - soaked overnight
- 2 black-tea bags
- 4 small pieces of dry amla (Indian gooseberry)
- 2 black cardamoms
- Whole Spices
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 small bay leaves
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- Dry Spices
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp red chili
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp chana masala
- Ginger Garlic Paste
- ½ inch ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 big onion thinly sliced
- 2 medium sized potatoes, finely chopped
- 1 cup tomato puree
- Rinse pre soaked chickpeas. Add to Instant Pot with 2 cups of water, tea bags and dry amla.
- Close the lid and select Manual Mode. Reduce the timer and set for 15 minutes.
- Let it cool, when the steam is released shift chickpeas and water in a clean bowl.
- Wash the pot clean. Dry the pot and insert it back.
- Switch Instant Pot and select saute mode.
- Add oil, when hot add cumin seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves.
- When seeds splutter add sliced onions and fry.When done add ginger garlic paste and fry.
- Now add chopped potatoes and mix well. Fry it well, aprox 5- 10 minutes.
- Add tomato puree and mix it well. Fry it well till puree blends well.
- Add dry spices and 1 tsp oil and mix well
- Now add pressure cooked chickpeas only and mix well.
- Add in total 3 cups water. This should be boiled water from earlier and fresh water.
- Close the lid ans select Manual mode for 15 minutes.
2. Water in which chickpeas are boiled enhance flavor of this dish
Do you have substitute suggestion for the amla? Thanks.
Anjuli, you can use dry mango powder. Amla adds color as well as sweet and sour flavor. Amchur(dry mango powder) will do the same for flavor.
Thank you! I have that.
Himani, this was delicious, I will definitely make this again (maybe with a bag of spinach at the end, just to pack in those greens). The spices were perfect.
Thanks so much for letting me know that you tried and liked the recipe. Adding spinach at the end is a great idea, I will try that too 🙂
What kind/flavor of tea bags did you use?
I used Wagh Barki tea bags, this is an Indian loose tea I use at home. You can get the same at Amazon or from Indian store. Any unflavored tea or mild flavored tea bags would work. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Hi Himani,
Would making rajma involve the same duration and settings in the instant pot? i have the 6 quart ip duo 7 in 1. Thanks.
Hi Ashley,
Yes it will be the same duration for Rajma. Let me know if you have more questions!
Can this be adapted to use canned chickpeas, if so how much/many cans? Also would the instant pot cooking time remain the same? Thanks for posting this, just bought my own instant pot and having lots of fun with it 🙂
Hi Rayn, I think 2 cans of 15oz chickpeas should yield the quantity required for this recipe. You can follow the recipe from step 5 onwards. If you have questions let me know.
Hi,
Was the valve on the IP in the venting or steaming position? Sorry new to the IP.
Hi, the valve has to be in steaming position when boiling chickpeas and also when in Manual mode. Do let me know if you have any more questions.
Hii, does canned garbanzo beans use same manual cooking time?
Yes, you can use canned garbanzo beans. Follow the recipe from Step 5.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I love chana curry but I’ve never made it at home — look forward to using my Instant Pot to make this recipe.
(This is a silly question but I see the (assuming) pickled onions in your lovely photos: how do you eat the pickled onions with a meal such as this? I always get a side of pickled onions at my local Indian restaurant and I love them so much that I enjoy eating them plain! I’m just not sure how to properly incorporate them to eat them into my meal. Is there a correct way?)
Do let me know how it turns out. Twinkle, in Indian cuisine pickled onions are eating along with food. They go very well with chana curry and pickle.
Hi, I actually made this curry this weekend. I did not have the chana masala spice and instead I used 1/2 cumin powder and 1/2 amchur powder. Also, I did not have fresh ginger and used crystallized ginger fruit. Well, the curry was a total hit!! I put the cardamoms with the first cooking with the soaked chickpeas and tea bags. The recipe had them as an ingredient but not when to use them. I did not turn the ingredients of the garlic paste into a paste since the recipe did not mention how to do it. I just added them all to the pot for the second pressure cooking process. I will definitely make this again! I am now vegan for health reasons and this curry will become a great addition to my repertoire. Thank you Himani!
Hello Rossana, am glad you liked the recipe and shared feedback with me.
How can i tweak the timing if I use canned garbanzo beans? I guess I will have to skip the first part but can add amchur powder for the sour taste instead of Amla?
For canned garbanzo beans manual mode 10 minutes will work well. Sure amchur powder will give you the sour taste. Let me know how it turns out.
What is the difference between using tomato paste, tomato puree, and tomato sauce?
Hi Amber, The key difference between the three (Tomato Paste, puree and sauce) is consistency. You can read more here: https://www.livestrong.com/article/515006-tomato-paste-vs-puree-for-recipes/. I use them accordingly as per the recipe. Tomato puree you can make at home using fresh tomatoes. I buy paste and sauce from grocery store.
How do you make the ginger garlic paste?
In a blender add peeled and chopped garlic, ginger and water(little to blend only), puree them and use. Let me know if you have more questions.