This Kala Chana Salad, a popular Indian Chana Chaat with Boiled Black Chickpea is a quick appetizer rich in savory flavors of onion, tomato, spices, and lemon juice.
A popular Bombay Street food, Kala Chana Chaat is a total comfort snack that can be made quickly with pre-boiled black chickpeas. As an Indian, I love bold and crunchy flavors, and this lip-smacking recipe can be a light breakfast or an evening meal in no time.
This Chana Salad is made with onion and tomato and can be easily customized with options to include subtle flavored Cucumber, carrots, replacing crunchy onions with caramelized onions or tangy curd/dahi and Raw mango (Ambi). This depends how you love your salad.
The same recipe can be used to make Kabuli Chana Salad (White Chickpea). Top it with my homemade chana masala powder for the best flavor!
You may like one of the popular salad recipes from my blog: Apple Cucumber Mint Salad, Moroccan Chickpea Salad
Find my Navratri special Indian Street food- Shakarkandi/ Sweet Potato Chaat
Other Chickpeas Recipes: Chickpea Curry With Spinach (Chana Saag), Punjabi Chana Masala, Chickpea Salad Mediterranean Style.
What is Kala Chana?
Kala chana, also known as black chickpeas or Bengal gram, is a variety of chickpeas that is smaller and darker in color compared to the more commonly known beige or yellow chickpeas. It is widely used in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cuisines. Kala chana has a nutty flavor and a dense, firm texture. Black Chickpea can be used in various dishes such as curries, stews, salads, and snacks.
Ingredients
This recipe needs super easy ingredients that can be procured from local Indian grocery stores and most of it would be in your pantry. Read the Recipe Card for the measurements.
For The Black Chickpea Salad
- Black Chickpea: or Kale Chane / Desi Chane as we commonly call them are highly rich in proteins and calcium. You may also use the same recipe (without any changes) to make White Chickpea Salad.
- Onion: Crunchy raw onions add the depth to this flavorful salad. If you are on fast, you may omit the onions and this energy-rich chana salad would be great for a fasting day.One may use white onions as well.
- Tomato: The Vitamin C rich fresh raw tomatoes add the perfect juiciness to this crunchy salad.
- Lemon juice: Without the tangy fresh lemons, any salad seems boring. Fresh lime juice works best. Adjust according to your taste. You may add Dry mango powder (amchur powder) as well.
- Spices: I have added black salt (kala namak), black pepper, green chilies, and Red chilly powder. Feel free to reduce the heat by skipping chilies.
- Garnish: Freshly chopped coriander or cilantro leaves or fresh herbs work best in this recipe.
How To Make The Black Chickpeas Salad
- Gather all the ingredients, wash them and chop onion and tomato.
- This recipe uses boiled kale chana. I had boiled the black chickpea a night before. Generally, whenever I make kala chana curry, I store a large bowl from it to make this salad.
- For cooking Kala Chana, soak them for 4-8 hrs in enough water. Drain the water and add the Kala chana to a stovetop pressure cooker. Add salt and water to soak them one inch deep. Give two whistles on full flame and simmer for 15 min. Once the cooker cools off, Take out the kala chana and the water can be used to knead the dough. It's rich in calcium and we have it as a warm kala chana soup as well.
- In a large bowl and add kala chana, chopped onions, green chilies, and tomatoes. Sprinkle salt, black pepper, and red chili powder. Give it a good mix. Add lemon juice and top it with green coriander leaves.
5. The Kala Chana Salad is ready. Enjoy it!
Storage Suggestions
- If you are not making salad the same day, store the room temperature already boiled Black chickpea in refrigerator for making salad the following day.
- The left over salad would be good for 2-3 days in refrigerator and not beyond that.
What To Serve With This Salad?
Black Chickpea salad is a great snack and can be had as is. For having it as a meal, you may team it with breads, pasta or soups.
Expert Tips
- The boiled chana water can be used to knead the dough. It's rich in calcium and we have it as a warm kala chana soup as well.
- This salad would be good for 2-3 days storage in refrigerator.
- The salad is mild spicy but being an Indian we love the heat in salad and other appetizers. My version of spicy may not be same as yours. Start with less chilly and gradually add more as per your taste.
- You may garnish it with pomegranate, boiled potatoes chunks or raw paneer.
Stories From Kitchen
Kala Chana is very close to my heart. We used to wait for Navratri Puja in family for having Halwa, Chana and Puri and trust me no prasad has ever tasted like that! Made in Desi ghee and when offered to Mata rine, it really is a prasad. I would have loads of chana mixed with Suji halwa and the legacy goes on. My kid also waits for the Navmi Puja to have this decadent treat!
FAQs
Soak the kala chana (black chickpeas) overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.
A 100g serving of roasted chana provides about 18.64g of protein.
You may also like:
More vegetarian Salad Recipes:
- Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad
- Cucumber Radish Salad
- Mango Avocado Cucumber Salad
- Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea Salad Recipe
- Easy Indian Onion Chutney (For Poppadoms)
- Easy Beet Recipes- Vegetarian
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Kala Chana Salad Recipe - Black Chickpea Salad
Equipment
- 1 Large Bowl
- 1 Chopping board
Ingredients
- 2 cup Boiled Black Chickpea can boil a day before
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 large tomato chopped
- 1 small green chilly chopped (optional)
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice can use raw mango grated or Dry mango powder
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilly Powder optional
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- salt as per taste
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients, wash them and chop onion and tomato.
- This recipe uses boiled kale chana. I had boiled the black chickpea a night before. Generally, whenever I make kala chana curry, I store a large bowl from it to make this salad. For boiling Kala Chana, soak them for 4-8 hrs in water. Drain the water and add the Kala chana to a pressure cooker. Add salt and water to soak them one inch deep. Give two whistles on full flame and simmer for 15 min. Once the cooker cools off, Take out the kala chana and the water can be used to knead the dough. It's rich in calcium and we have it as a warm kala chana soup as well
- Take a large bowl and add kala chana, chopped onions, green chilies, tomatoes. Sprinkle salt, black pepper and red chilly powder. Give it a good mix. Add lemon juice and top it with green coriander leaves.
- The Black Chickpea salad is ready. Enjoy it!
Notes
- The boiled chana water can be used to knead the dough. It's rich in calcium and we have it as a warm kala chana soup as well.
- If you are not making salad the same day, store the room temperature already boiled Black chickpea in refrigerator for making salad the following day.
- This salad would be good for 2-3 days storage in refrigerator.
- The salad is mild spicy but being an Indian we love the heat in salad and other appetizers. My version of spicy may not be same as yours. Start with less chilly and gradually add more as per your taste.
- You may garnish it with pomegranate, boiled potatoes chunks or raw paneer.
- If you are boiling chana from scratch, this recipe may take 25 min.
Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 bowl Servings: 4 Amount per serving Calories 150 % Daily Value* Total Fat 2.2g 3% Saturated Fat 0.3g 1% Cholesterol 0mg 0% Sodium 202mg 9% Total Carbohydrate 26g 9% Dietary Fiber 7.2g 26% Total Sugars 5.6g Protein 20.8g Vitamin D 0mcg 0% Calcium 51mg 4% Iron 3mg 15% Potassium 325mg 7% *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Aditi says
It's a wonderful post and recipe. so detailed..thanks
Deepti says
Thank you Aditi for the kind words!
Emma says
Wonderful recipe. Made it for my daughter and she loved it. Can you share the gravy recipe for Black chickpea? Thanks 🙂
Deepti says
I am so glad to know this, Emma. I have posted a gravy recipe for White Chickpea. You may refer to that for now. It's very similar to black chickpea gravy recipe. I would surely try creating that too. Thanks so much.
Ann Brady says
Apparently I have baby mouth. A teaspoon of black pepper AND a teaspoon of red chili powder was WAY too hot for me. Maybe I should have used one or the other. I will try this recipe again with less heat. Looks so pretty and I love everything in it.
Deepti says
Hi Ann, thanks for stopping by. I am sorry to learn that this Kala Chana Chaat was very hot for you. You are right, I mentioned the optional red chilly for that reason. Here, In India, our spice appetite is a lot and I specify in my posts that my version of spicy may not be the same as yours, especially for my audience whose preference is low heat. I guess I missed mentioning it in this post. I will update it soon. I am glad that you still wish to try it again with fewer spices and yes, it's one of my favorite salads.
Happy Cooking!!
Olivia Brown says
Perfect Salad. Made it in a jiffy and I chose just half of the chilies mentioned and it was not very hot for me! Thanks!
Deepti says
I am so glad to know! Thanks for sharing, Olivia!