10 comforting and traditional Hara Chana dishes for winter months

One of the most underrated winter foods is Hara Chana. Also known as Choliya in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, and parts of Rajasthan. This seasonal winter produce has soft texture and offers a mildly sweet taste, which adds to the flavour of many savoury dishes. Rich in protein, fibre, iron, and folate, it is a wholesome winter legume, which is fresh, nourishing, and deeply comforting. Its high fibre content promotes gut health and aids weight management, while essential minerals like magnesium and potassium contribute to heart health. Here are a few must-try hara chana dishes that offer the perfect balance of comfort, nutrition, and flavour.

It is a rich, slow-cooked curry that uses hara chana and is cooked along with onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, and garam masala. In some places, people also add potato dice to it. It is best enjoyed with hot rotis or steamed rice.

This is a South Indian-style stir-fry dish that uses a tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves, coconut, and green chillies and is added to fresh hara chana.

It is a Maharashtrian winter favourite, where hara chana is cooked with goda masala, coconut, and a spicy gravy and goes well with pav or bhakri.

It is a nutritious and comforting main course dish made with spinach puree, cooked along with green chana and mild spices. It is best served with rice.

This is a protein-rich one-pot meal cooked with rice, ghee, moong dal, cumin, ginger, and mild spices along with fresh hara chana in it. It is best served with ghee on top.

This one is crispy on the outside, soft inside and is made with a mixture made with coarsely blended hara chana and soybean, seasoned with spices, shaped in tikkis and then shallow-fried to perfection.

This is a one-pot meal, where fragrant basmati rice is cooked with green chana, whole spices like bay leaf, cumin, star anise, cardamom, and ghee resulting in a dish that pairs well with gajar mooli achar and curd on the side.

The blend of these two work well with roti and rice. The slight bitterness of fresh fenugreek leaves when combined with sweetness of hara chana, makes for a winter-special sabzi that can be dry or curry-based too .

It is a protein-rich bowl of comfort, made with boiled and mashed hara chana cooked in its own broth, and seasoned with burnt garlic, pepper, and cumin. It is good for immunity and digestion during winters.

Also known as Ghugni, it is a spicy evening snack dish made with steamed boiled green chana, tossed with onions, lemon juice, chaat masala, and a hint of roasted cumin and is best served warm for a winter twist.

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