If you ask any Malayalee about their favourite breakfast dish, I’m sure puttu and kadala (chick peas) will pop up. It’s a comfort food for most Keralites. Though I always tell people that mine is a Kerala food blog, I’m kinda embarrassed to say that it took me 4 years to post a kadala curry recipe. Anyways, it’s better late than never. Also I’ve received requests from a number of readers for the same.
This recipe is from the blog Yummy O Yummy. True to their name, this space has many yummy recipes. I was looking for a kadala curry recipe with roasted coconut and thick gravy and this one fitted the bill perfectly! I hope you will also like it. Except for the very minor changes in the quantity of ingredients, this is totally Yummy Team’s recipe :) Thanks Yummy Team for such a wonderful recipe. You can see the step by step pictures of this recipe here.
Here is the recipe:
- Black Chickpeas/Chana/Kadala – 1 cup
- Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
- Sliced coconut pieces (thenga kothu ) – 3 tbsp
- Onion – 1 large sliced and chopped
- Pearl onions – 4 sliced
- Green chillies – 3 slit
- Curry leaves – A sprig
- Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder – ⅛ tsp
- Mustard seeds – ¼ – ½ tsp
- Dry red chillies-2
- Coconut oil – As required
- Salt – To taste
- Grated coconut – ¾ – 1 cup
- Pearl onion – 2 sliced
- Coriander seeds – 1½ tbsp (You can use coriander powder instead, add it while making the gravy)
- Whole spices – (Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp, cardamom – 2, cloves – 3, Cinnamon stick – 1, Whole pepper corns – ½ tsp, star anise (thakolam) – 1 petal)
- Soak the kadala overnight and cook in a pressure cooker till soft adding ¼ tsp turmeric powder and salt. After the first whistle, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 4 more whistles. Keep it closed for 20 mins. Drain the water and save it for making gravy.
- Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add the coriander seeds & whole spices. Saute for a few seconds and add the sliced pearl onions. Saute for a minute and add the grated coconut. Roast until it turns reddish brown. Switch off and leave aside. Grind it to a paste when it cools down.
- In a deep pan heat some coconut oil and splutter mustard and brown the dry red chillies. Now add the sliced coconut pieces. Saute until they turn brown,add the sliced onion, pearl onions, green chillies and curry leaves. Saute until they turn light brown. Now add turmeric powder, chilli powder, saute for a few seconds and add the reserved water from the cooked kadala. Bring to a boil and add the ground coconut paste and cooked kadala. Mix well and cook until the gravy achieves your desired consistency. Switch off and serve hot with
- puttu
