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    Home » Recipes » Pulao Recipes

    Easy channa pulao recipe | Lunch box recipes

    January 28, 2014 by Raks Anand 42 Comments / Jump to Recipe

    channa-pulao-recipe

    Chana pulao recipe, learn how to make easy chana pulao, no grinding involved and simple procedure, even bachelors can adapt, try on their own.

    Chana pulao always has been tricky to me. I have tried 4-5 times since I started cooking, but never turned out good. Then once Jeyashri only told it comes out delicious and invited for lunch to serve it. It was indeed delicious. Since then, I too got confidence of making chana biryani. She had made it in this Biryani style. I had once tried and came out good too. Aj too started liking since then. But this time when I was going through a handwritten cookbook which had channa pulao – only ingredients list. I was surprised to see few ingredients and since nowadays I am graduated in cooking to develop a recipe with its ingredients, I thought of giving it a try in that way this time. It was easy to make and yet tasted good. Both Aj and Vj had it without any complaints. So this could be a quick fix for your lunch box for office going people, since less cutting work. You can pack this with cucumber or vegetable raita and some fryums or chips.

    chana-pulao-recipe
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    Chana pulao recipe

    Chana pulao recipe, a simple, no grind method, even bachelors can try. Learn how to make with stepwise pictures.
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Indian
    Prep Time 10 minutes
    Cook Time 20 minutes
    Soaking time 12 hours
    Total Time 30 minutes
    Cup measurements

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup Basmati rice heaped
    • ½ cup Chana white
    • 1 Onion
    • 1 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste
    • 3 Green chilli
    • 1 teaspoon Chana masala powder heaped
    • 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves chopped
    • Salt - As needed

    To temper

    • 2 tablespoon Oil/ ghee
    • 1 inch piece Cinnamon
    • 2 Cloves
    • 1 Cardamom
    • 1 Bay leaf
    • 1 Star anise
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Soak chana overnight. Soak basmati rice for 10 minutes before cooking.
    • Slice onion lengthwise and slit green chillies.
    • Heat a small pressure cooker with oil/ ghee and temper with the items given under ‘To temper’.
    • Add onion, green chillies and fry till onion turns translucent.
    • Add ginger garlic paste. Fry until raw smell goes away, but make sure not to over fry/ burn it.
    • Add chana masala powder and give a quick stir.
    • Add soaked rice drained from water, soaked chana and add salt.
    • Mix well. Add 1 & ½ cups of water, lemon juice and bring to boil.
    • Keep in lowest possible flame and cook for 12-14 minutes.
    • You can also pressure cook for 2 whistles in medium flame.
    • Once done open the cooker, add chopped coriander leaves and mix gently.

    Notes

    • I always prefer fresh ground ginger garlic paste or homemade ginger garlic paste than store bought.
    • Just soaking the channa is enough, it will get cooked as the pulao gets cooked. No need to cook it separately.
    • You can also add few mint leaves after frying onions.
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    Chana pulao stepwise pictures method:

      1. Soak chana overnight. Soak basmati rice for 30 minutes before cooking. Slice onion lengthwise and slit green chillies. Heat a small pressure cooker with oil/ ghee and temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table. Add onion, green chillies and fry till onion turns translucent. Ginger garlic paste goes in.pulao step 1-temper
      2. Fry until raw smell goes away, but make sure not to over fry/ burn it.  Sprinkle chana masala powder and give a quick stir. Add soaked rice drained from water, soaked chana and salt. Mix well.pulao step 2-fry
      3. Pour 1 & ½ cups of water, lemon juice and bring to boil. Keep in lowest possible flame and cook for 12-14 minutes. You can also pressure cook for 2 whistles in medium flame. Once done open the cooker, add chopped coriander leaves and mix gently.pulao step 3-cooked

    Notes

      • I always prefer fresh ground ginger garlic paste or homemade ginger garlic paste than store bought.
      • Just soaking the chana is enough, it will get cooked as the pulao gets cooked. No need to cook it separately.
      • You can also add few mint leaves after frying onions.

    Goes well with raita and chips or fryums. We had with onion raita and some store bought fryums.

    easy-channa-pulao

    « Lunch menu 29 - Quick lunch (HSB Style)
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Manjula Ramalingam

      January 28, 2014 at 8:15 am

      Raji, It looks like you missed addition of soaked channa in the procedure. I believe you add it along with rice or after that by looking at the pictures. Good one, I have made similar recipe but added ground tomato and coriander paste after frying onion, gg....

      Reply
    2. AparnaRajeshkumar

      January 28, 2014 at 8:24 am

      great idea......

      Reply
    3. Priya Srinivasan

      January 28, 2014 at 8:57 am

      Very very inviting! !!! Looks super delicious:-)

      Reply
    4. Ruchi Indu

      January 28, 2014 at 9:09 am

      Raji, Good one. Even I do a similar one except that I add tomatoes and little curd instead of lemon juice...

      http://endekushini.blogspot.in/

      Reply
    5. Raks anand

      January 28, 2014 at 9:21 am

      Oops! I think yeah, I will edit to add the main ingredient !! Thank you for letting me know

      Reply
    6. Preethi ManiK

      January 28, 2014 at 9:28 am

      Hey Raji looks very nice . Will try timorrow. I tried ur moong dal recipe and it came out well. Thanks for the gud recipes

      Reply
    7. Preethi ManiK

      January 28, 2014 at 9:28 am

      Hey Raji looks very nice . Will try timorrow. I tried ur moong dal recipe and it came out well. Thanks for the gud recipes

      Reply
    8. madhukar

      January 28, 2014 at 10:32 am

      I tried few of your receipes its come out well
      whats channa masala what are the ingredients?

      Reply
    9. Veena Theagarajan

      January 28, 2014 at 11:27 am

      looks yum really easy one I do it different way bit involved

      Reply
    10. Shama Nagarajan

      January 28, 2014 at 2:08 pm

      yummy pulao

      Reply
    11. Anonymous

      January 28, 2014 at 4:36 pm

      Very tempting!

      Reply
    12. Hamaree Rasoi

      January 28, 2014 at 5:33 pm

      Chana pulao looks so delicious and inviting. Excellent pic especially the 2nd one.
      Deepa

      Reply
    13. Eskitha Periyaswamy

      January 28, 2014 at 6:08 pm

      The picture itself is tempting. Luks yummy. Have tried similar recipe with black chana

      Reply
    14. Anonymous

      January 28, 2014 at 9:38 pm

      Its indeed a easy lunch box recipe.. Looks wonderful

      Reply
    15. jeyashri suresh

      January 29, 2014 at 7:53 am

      Lovely, u got it perfect. Varsha was drooling on seeing the clicks as this is her fav dish

      Reply
    16. Gita Jaishankar

      January 29, 2014 at 8:19 am

      This preparation sounds very interesting, looks good too, bookmarked 🙂

      Reply
    17. Dipti Joshi

      January 29, 2014 at 11:46 am

      It is really easy to make and you have got only one vessel to wash. 😉

      Reply
    18. Worksheet Wizards

      January 29, 2014 at 4:56 pm

      great!!! one more item for my daughter's lunchbox. Will try.

      Reply
    19. divya

      January 29, 2014 at 7:33 pm

      mmmm.....yummmm... Looks mouthwatering. Amazing clicks

      Reply
    20. One Day At a Time

      January 30, 2014 at 1:45 pm

      Hi Raji tried this recipe and it came out perfectly.Thank you so much.
      Adeline

      Reply
    21. keerthana tharunkumar

      January 31, 2014 at 5:30 am

      hi raji.. yummy recipe.. i try it with coconut milk it came good..

      Reply
    22. SHARMILEE J

      February 04, 2014 at 3:26 pm

      Looks perfect and quick too...Lovely clicks too!!

      Reply
    23. Nithya Rajaraman

      February 04, 2014 at 3:27 pm

      hi,
      It came out yummy. Everyone liked it. Thank you Raji.

      NithyaKaran.

      Reply
    24. priya ravi

      February 22, 2014 at 7:33 am

      Hi thanks for the recipie. How much water do i add if i have to cook it in an electric cooker.

      Reply
    25. Raks anand

      February 22, 2014 at 8:16 am

      I think it will be available in the cooker instructions, but I think you can add little less than 2 cups.

      Reply
    26. Gayathri Srinivasan

      February 27, 2014 at 1:53 am

      I just love your blog !! All the recipes are just awesome 🙂

      Reply
    27. Harini Sundaram

      March 29, 2014 at 3:48 pm

      Hie raks! Am newly married n never been to the kitchen before...ur recipes are sooo cool n awesome that I ve managed to do it well...my hubby who used to be selective in eating nw enjoys everything that i make...Million thanks to u 😀

      Reply
    28. Arifath Mohideen

      June 17, 2014 at 6:46 am

      Thank you for the recipe. It saved my day as I had no hassle packing my son's lunchbox today. Being an employed lady, am on the lookout for easy, nutritious recipes n have learnt immensely from your blog. Thank you for your tele-contributions!

      Reply
    29. kaviya ram

      July 13, 2014 at 11:46 am

      Hi today I tried this pulao for lunch. We really enjoyed and awesome taste. Thanks for the wonderful receipe

      Reply
    30. "அம்மு"

      August 12, 2014 at 7:19 am

      I tried and it came out really well.. Thank you 🙂

      Reply
    31. Sunita Nair

      August 14, 2014 at 12:34 pm

      Hey i landed here from the lunchbox ideas page.. a question on how to send cut apples in lunchbox without them turning brown.

      thank you 🙂

      Reply
    32. Raks anand

      August 14, 2014 at 12:35 pm

      Toss in lemon juice, it will keep it fresh without color change 🙂

      Reply
    33. Renuka Ambbarees

      August 25, 2014 at 1:16 pm

      Mam. ..Instead of channa masala powder, what shall I add? ?? Replacement for channa masala powder. ...

      Reply
    34. Raks anand

      August 25, 2014 at 1:17 pm

      Just add garam masala. But highly recommend channa masala powder

      Reply
    35. SHALINI

      March 10, 2015 at 1:02 am

      Hi raks
      Y u r not adding tomatoes in the receipe. Let me know the reason..

      Reply
    36. Raks anand

      March 10, 2015 at 1:07 am

      If you like you can add, I personally wanted the pulao simple and without the red colour of the tomato. That's why

      Reply
    37. renuka

      October 10, 2015 at 9:29 am

      Mam, I prepared this dish today.. Taste of the dish came out well ..only 70-80% rice( rice looks very small after cooking) is cooked. I used Sona Masuri Rice. Will you tell how many cups of water is needed for sona masuri rice and also soaking time ? I gave one whistle in high and two whistles in low and I added 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice . I precooked channa also .

      Reply
    38. Raks anand

      October 10, 2015 at 10:29 am

      2 cups sounds okay, if your rice is old, it may need more water to cook. So use half cup more and see. I suggest you to cook basmati rice though.

      Reply
    39. sup

      May 09, 2017 at 12:56 am

      Hello mam, This is a great dish n loved the taste of it. Although, few of my channa's were uncooked. I soaked them overnight, n used pressure cooking for 2 whistles n 5 mins on low flame. What could be the cause ? For 1 cup basmati rice I used 2 cups water. Thank you very much for ur reply.

      Reply
    40. Nidhi

      October 19, 2017 at 10:17 am

      Regarding 12-14 min on the lowest flame, do you pressure cook, simply cover with and cook, or just let the water evaporate on its own? Thanks!

      Reply
    41. Nithya

      April 03, 2019 at 10:51 pm

      Tried your recipe and it came out amazing, Raks. Thanks a lot !!!

      Reply
      • Raks Anand

        April 04, 2019 at 3:21 pm

        Thanks a lot Nithya 🙂

        Reply

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    Raks anand

    Hi, I'm Rajeswari Vijayanand! I am the person behind Rakskitchen, sharing recipes with pictures & videos.

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    Raks anand

    Hi, I'm Rajeswari Vijayanand! I am the person behind Rakskitchen, sharing recipes with pictures & videos.

    More about me →

    Popular

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    Summer recipes

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