Kadala Curry (Bengal Gram/Chana/Karuppu Kadala Curry - Kerala Style)

Bengal Gram (Chana in Hindi, Karuppu Kadala in Tamil) is one of the most important and widely used pulses in India.  It has numerous health benefits. It is a very high source of protein and iron. Sprouted Bengal gram is given to children owing to its high levels of protein and iron. 

Apart from iron, its also a very good source of folic acid and fibre. 

Kadala Curry is one of the most widely eaten food in Kerala as it goes well with a variety of breakfast dishes such as Appam, Idiappam, Dosa and most important of them all - the one and only "PUTTU".   

Preparation method:

Ingredients:

250 gms of Bengal gram

Coconut- 1/2, grated

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

Kashmiri chilly powder - 1 teaspoon (normal chilly powder is also fine but quantity would be 1/2 teaspoon)

Black Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 2 teaspoon

Green Chilly - 1 or 2

Tomato - 1, small, chopped

Onions - 2

Chopped coconut

Curry leaves - 10-15 leaves

Salt to taste

Steps

Soak the bengal gram  in water over night. The size of the gram would increase to around 1.5 times. Overnight soaked bengal gram is shown in the picture below

Cook the Bengal gram in the cooker. For every one glass of Bengal gram put minimum of 2 glass of water. Add salt as required.

Roast the grated Coconut till it turns  brownish  color and then put 2 table spoon coriander powder spread it out it into a plate to for it to cool down.

Grind the roasted coconut-coriander mix by adding  ¼ glass (approx 50 ml) of water into it. Add pepper powder into this. Keep this paste aside.

Chop two big onions vertically. Take a pan and pour one table spoon oil. Once the oil is hot, put 2 teaspoons  of mustard into it. Once all the mustard splutters, put dry red chilly, curry leaves and the chopped onions into the pan.  

Sauté till the chopped onions turn brown. Adding salt while sauteing speeds up the process. 

Once the onions turns brownish add chopped coconut..allow the coconut chops also to get fried during which these too would turn slightly brown. Once this happens, put  the  chopped tomatoes, and,1green chilly  into the pan.

Add one  teaspoon of turmeric and one teaspoon of chilly powder to this mixture. Adding these also makes the dish tasty and colorful; apart from the health benefits associated with turmeric. 

Kashmiri Chilly powder is preferred due to the color that it gives to the dish. please note that the main source of spice in this dish is the black pepper powder.

Now, add the cooked Bengal gram into the pan. Add the coconut–coriander pepper paste also into the pan. Add salt if required. Mix it well.

Bengal curry of  Kerala  is ready. 

Serves 6. 

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