Soak chickpeas in lightly salted water (at-least 8 hours) in almost double the quantity of water, the chickpeas will bloat up to double their size by the end

Approximately one hour before you start to pressure cook the chickpeas, add one tsp oil to the water (this is to ensure the chickpeas become a little extra soft)

Strain the soaked water and add the chickpeas to a pressure cooker

Sprinkle 1 tbsp black pepper powder and add 2 tea bags

Fill the cooker with enough water to submerge the chickpeas

Add a tsp of salt and mix well

Close the lid and pressure cook for about 4-5 whistles on medium flame (let the first whistle blow on full flame)

Heat oil in a wok / kadhai

Add one tsp hing followed by cumin seeds

Wait for 30 seconds and add the garlic paste

As soon as garlic starts to become off-white add the ginger and mix well

Add the minced green chillies

Swirl around for another 30 seconds and the add the cinnamon sticks (whole), cloves and bay leaves

Once the dish gets fragrant, add the onions and keep stirring

Ensure the onions are cooked till they are brown, do not be lazy at this step because this is the main flavour of the dish

Once the onions are brown you can add all the spices (red chilli powder, chole masala, garam masala) and mix well for 1 minute

Add the pureed tomatoes followed by some salt so that the tomatoes get cooked well

Fry the tomatoes until you see floating oil, again, skipping this step means compromising the flavour

From the pressure cooked chickpeas, strain (save 1.5 cups of water) and add the chickpeas to the curry at this point, they must be tender (easily squash-able)

From the saved water, add a total of 1.5 cups to the dish, little at a time, checking for correct consistency

Mother's secret step - take a Pav bhaji masher or a strong karcha (spoon) and lightly mash around in the wok, be very careful as not to mash more than 10% of the total quantity

Stir the dish well and cook it on low flame covered for about 5 minutes (keep on swirling in between to avoid being stuck / burnt from the bottom)

Squeeze half a lemon, add kasoori methi and stir

Turn off the stove and cover the wok

Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, take 1 tbsp oil and heat

Fry the sliced ginger in that pan and sprinkle some salt on it

Garnish the wok of chole with fried ginger slices and chopped cilantro