Holy mole! You'll love this chole!

Chole is a north Indian chickpea dish that is simply amazing! Usually made with Indian staples of dark chickpeas called kala chana dal, mango powder, and a few other tough-to-find ingredients. So I've adapted it to be a little more favorable to ingredients I can get locally. But it's still every bit as good!

Prep time: 2 cocktails

1 pound dried chickpeas
4-5 tea bags of black tea
Salt
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, juice reserved
1 tsp coriander seeds
8 cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp fenugreek
4 TBSP ghee
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 large onion, minced
1 TBSP ginger grated with microplane or finest grating of a box grater
1-2 serrano peppers, minced
3-4 cloves garlic
2 TBSP tamarind paste (Mileage will vary depending on brand--be careful. I use Tamicon brand.)
2 small pinches hing (aka asafetida) -- careful! Don't overdo it! (optional)
1/2 bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped

Soak the chickpeas in water with a couple tablespoons baking soda overnight. Before you're ready to cook the chickpeas the following day, brew the teabags into about 4 cups of strong black tea and discard teabags. Then rinse chickpeas very well, place in a pot with 1 tsp salt, tea, and water until chickpeas are covered and bring to boil. Cook until soft, about 2-4 hours (a pressure cooker can do this in just a few minutes), adding water as necessary.

Once chickpeas are soft, cook off most of the remaining liquid.

In a food processor, pulse the tomatoes and tomato sauce a few times until broken down into chunks but not a smooth puree. Set aside.

Now, combine coriander, cloves, cardamom, and fenugreek in a spice grinder and grind into a powder. Set aside.

Heat the ghee in a large dutch oven over medium heat. When melted, add bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Simmer for 10-20 seconds. Add all the spices from the grinder, as well as the whole cumin seeds. Simmer for another 10-20 seconds, until it all becomes aromatic. Add onions and saute 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add ginger and pepper. Saute 1 more minute. Add garlic and simmer an additional minute. Now, add tomatoes, chickpeas and any remaining cooking liquid, 1 tsp salt, and tamarind. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer, uncovered for at least 20 minutes, until all the excess liquid has cooked off and tomatoes have broken down fairly well. Adjust salt, spices, and tamarind, as needed. Add hing, if using.

Serve with cilantro as a garnish.