Kadala Curry (Chana/Chole) – Valluvanadan Style

We Keralites have ‘Kadala curry’ in our menu like it is a staple food. But this Kadala curry is one which I had quite some time back when I visited my friend Damo (a.k.a Njan Gandharvan or Gandhu in online space). Gandhu’s mom made a kadala curry as side dish for idlis. It was so tasty, I tried to recreate it myself and never succeeded. It has been a couple of years since then. Last week I contacted Gandhu again and got the recipe, talked with his mom and today, I cooked her recipe. It was, out of the world! Here is it for you to try that out.

Ingredients

• For pressure cooking
  1. White chana (Kabuli chana) – 1 cup – Soaked overnight
  2. Potatoes – 3 medium size – small dices
  3. Onion – 2 large – thin slices
  4. Green chilly – 5, slit
  5. Curry leaves
  6. Salt
• For grinding
  1. Coconut – ¾ cup
  2. Coriander powder – 4 tbsp
  3. Red chilly powder – 1 tbsp
  4. Fresh ground black pepper – per your tolerance.
  5. Cumin seeds – 1 tea spoon
  6. Shallots (Small onions) – 4 nos.
• For tempering
  1. Shallots – 5 nos – sliced
  2. Mustard
  3. Oil
  4. Cumin Seeds (optional)
  5. Curry leaves

Preparing Kadala Curry

1. Put the first set of ingredients into a pressure cooker.
2. Fill water to level the vegetables.
3. Add salt to taste.
4. Let it cook.
5. While veggies are cooking, get the grind ready.
6. Heat a pan, add coriander powder to it. Heat it until the raw smell goes. Make sure its color is not changed. Don’t burn it.
7. Grind the ingredients in a mixer to a smooth paste. Add water as needed.
8. Once the veggies are cooked, Heat a woke.
9. Add oil and mustard. Once mustard is popped, add cumin seeds, shallots and curry leaves to it. Saute this for a minute.
10. Add cooked vegetables into the woke.
11. Pour the grind into this.
12. Mix well and let it boil for another 5 minutes.
13. Check and add salt as needed.

This goes well with almost anything! Roti, Dosa, Poori, Idli… what not!

Happy cooking!!