Kala Chana Salad | Black Chickpea Salad (No Oil- No Sugar Weight Loss Salad)

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Chana salad / black chickpea salad is a nutritious & healthy recipe made with kala chana (desi chana).

This is a no oil, no sugar weight loss salad recipe.

About Chana Salad (Chickpea Salad)

If you are looking for simple, quick, super easy, no oil, no sugar protein-rich vegan salad recipe, then this is it!

This is a perfect one-pot recipe when you want to eat healthy and do not want to cook an elaborate meal.

A super nutritious recipe made with kala chana also called as black chickpeas tossed in onion-tomatoes along with simple spices & herbs.

This is a vegan, gluten-free, protein-packed, fibre-rich, beginner & bachelor-friendly and diabetic-friendly recipe.

Prepared in minutes, this chana salad (black chickpea salad) tastes spicy & tangy and is delicious in taste.

Typically this salad is served as an evening snack. In many parts of India, you will find food carts selling this chatpata salad with a generous squeeze of lemon juice along with spicy masalas.

The only time consumed to make this salad is the time taken to soak the peas/chana. Once you have your soaked and cooked chana/peas ready, you can whip this salad in no time.

This nutritious salad has nice tangy and spicy flavours from garam masala, cumin powder and red chilli powder. This salad can be had for light dinner or for lunch along with some cold chaas (buttermilk).

I personally like to have this salad for a light dinner along with tomato saar (soup) or green moong dal soup. Makes a perfect combo!

This is a no-oil, no sugar protein-rich, fibre-rich recipe that is low in carbs and low in glycemic index making it perfect for diabetic and heart patients.

This salad can also be made with garbanzo beans as well (Kabuli chana). This simple yet delicious salad is full-on flavour and makes a perfect party snack too.

This is such a versatile salad recipe that you can tweak it according to your taste buds. You can add more vegetables of your choice like carrots, capsicum (bell peppers), cucumber, boiled potatoes etc.

This salad can be served warm or cold or even chilled. Hence it becomes easy to pack it for lunch box too!

Personally, I prefer to have a warm chana salad instead of a cold one. I feel it tastes best when warm instead of cold. Of course, you can reheat it in the oven if packing for the lunch box.

Also, you can use other varieties of legumes to make this recipe. You can use garbanzo beans (Kabuli chana), green mung beans (hare moong) and even chawli (black-eyed beans). Just make sure to soak and cook the legumes first.

This no-oil salad can be served as a starter, for evening snacks, as a side dish for meals or as a light lunch/dinner.

This one-dish salad is the best for a plant-based diet as it takes care of your daily protein requirement.

At home we often make curries, dals and salad using legumes, hence we always have some or the other legumes that are pre-cooked and stored in the refrigerator. They come in handy, especially when you have no energy to make dinner after a long hectic workday.

Once we have our pre-cooked chana, it hardly takes about 15 minutes to put this dish together.

Why you should try out this chana salad / black chickpea salad?

1) A No oil & no sugar salad recipe perfect for a weight-loss diet.

2) A high-protein recipe best for a plant-based diet.

3) A high-fibre salad

4) Low in glycemic index hence will not elevate blood sugar level

5) Vegan & Gluten-free recipe.

6) Low in carbohydrates

lngredients

Kala Chana/Desi Chana / Black Chickpeas – I have used 1 cup of chana/chickpeas which I soaked in water overnight. Drained the water and washed under running tap water. I then added 2 cups of water to the chana/chickpeas and pressure-cooked it for 8 whistles till the chana/chickpeas were softened.

Vegetables – I have used 1 medium-sized onion finely chopped along with 1 medium-sized tomato finely chopped. I deseeded the tomatoes for this recipe. You can add any vegetables of your choice from cucumber, carrot, and capsicum.

Spices & Herb – The main flavour of this dish comes from cumin powder (jeera powder) and garam masala powder. I have also used red chilli for the spiciness.

Seasoning – To make this salad tangy and give that extra oomph to this recipe, a generous amount of lemon juice is sprinkled. Add salt as per taste. Here you can use pink Himalayan salt too. It will give a nice kick of flavours to this salad.

Variations

This versatile salad can be instantly transformed into a delicious finger-licking chana chaat by adding a tablespoon of chaat masala along with sweet & tangy tamarind chutney and spicy green chutney. You can also add boiled potatoes and top them with sev (gram flour vermicelli) and pomegranates. This makes a perfect chana-chat recipe.

Storage Options

If you are left with extra salad, just store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for just one day as we have added raw onions. Reheat before serving.

If you plan to pre-cook the chana/chickpeas then you can store the boiled chana/chickpeas in the refrigerator for about a week. But be sure to discard the water in which the chana was cooked.

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Food FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions:

How to soak black chickpeas / kala chana ?

In a big pot/vessel add black chickpeas. Add water till the chickpeas are completely submerged. Make sure that you have added a sufficient amount of water as the chickpeas will increase in size once soaked.

Cover the pot/vessel and let the black chickpeas soak overnight or for 7-8 hours. After soaking, the chana/ peas will increase in size.

Drain the water in which we soaked the chickpeas/chana. Rinse the chana/chickpeas with fresh water.

How to boil kala chana / black chickpeas?

Add water till it covers the chickpeas/ chana along with salt. Put the pot/vessel in a pressure cooker. Cover the lid and pressure cook for 6-7 whistle.

Let the pressure of the cooker release naturally.

Our cooked/boiled kala chana / black chickpeas are ready. Discard the water.

Tip: I normally boil these chickpeas a day or two before so that I can use them for making chana masala or chana salad or even chana chaat instantly.

Step-by-Step Chana Salad Recipe With Pitcures

How to make weight-loss salad / chana salad (black chickpea salad)

• In a mixing bowl, add the boiled chana/chickpeas.

• Add finely chopped onions, tomatoes, cumin seed powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, and salt.

• Add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Mix everything well.

• Chana Salad / Black Chickpea salad is ready.

You can serve it warm or cold. If you prefer a warm salad, reheat the peas before adding all the ingredients.

Other variations

This chana salad / black chickpea salad can be instantly transformed into chana chaat (a popular Indian street food snack) by adding chaat masala along with green spicy chutney and tamarind chutney. You can totally avoid chutneys here and go with only chaat masala along with fine sev (gram flour vermicelli).

You can also add boiled potatoes, pomegranate seeds, raw mango, cucumbers or any other vegetable of your choice in this salad.

You may also use other legumes to make this salad. Instead of using black chickpeas, you can use garbanzo beans, or even green mung sprouts.

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