More research on chickpeas gave me some nice-to-know nutrition facts about it. “One hundred grams of mature boiled chickpeas contains 164 calories, 2.6 grams of fat (of which only 0.27 grams is saturated), 7.6 grams of dietary fiber and 8.9 grams of protein. Chickpeas also provide dietary calcium (49-53 mg/100 g), with some sources citing the garbanzo’s calcium content as about the same as yogurt and close to milk. ” – Wikipedia
Here is the recipe for authentic (as far as I could made it :D) Kala Chana. I recently bought a small packet of Caraway seeds, since I thought it would be nice to cook up something nice with them. Kala Chana is the first recipe in that series.
KALA CHANA RECIPE
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
Black chickpeas (kala chana) – 1/2 cup
Onions – 2, chopped
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Green chillies – 2, slit
Hing (kayam) – one pinch
Turmeric – 1 pinch
Cardamom – 2, coarsely ground.
Caraway seeds (shahjeera) – 2 tsp
Coriander powder (mallipodi) – 2 tsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
How to Make Kala Chana:
1. Soak the chickpeas in twice its amount of water overnight. I leave it for atleast 12 hours since they are tougher to cook than most other lentils.
2. Next day, pressure cook the chickpeas with 4 cups water. I let the whistle sound 4 times atleast. Let it cool.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the shahjeera and cardamom. Fry for 15 seconds and then add the coriander powder.
4. Now add the ginger garlic paste and when it turns slightly brown, add the onions and green chillies. (Note that in most of South Indian cooking, we add the onions first but this recipe is slightly different in that).
5. Let the onions turn brown by keeping fire on sim and adding water occasionally to let it mix well with the spices and to prevent burning. Continue doing this for about 15 minutes until you have a mush of caramelized onions that smell out of this world!
6. Now its time to add the chickpeas. Drain them and add it to the above onion mixture to cook for another 3-4 minutes. If you find the gravy going too dry, add the water used to boil the chickpeas, very little at a time. Also adjust salt at this stage. Remember that the gravy is supposed to be a bit thick.
7. Once the chickpeas have mixed well with the gravy and the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan, remove from fire and serve hot with phulkas.
This is not one of those easy recipes I usually post, but is well worth the effort. If you like the gravy tangy, add one cup blanched and pureed tomatoes. Suitable for a cooking-oriented weekend 🙂
SM, for cooking I'm afraid I don't have a standard cup I measure with. I mostly eyeball when I give measurements here. This is one recipe that most people have had trouble with so I will surely measure accurately and post again. I would say its between 200ml and 250ml as of now 🙂
Hi Nags,
Two questions on this
1. what is the cup size you use for measurement – 250 ml?
2. Also when you say half cup chana – do you mean before or after soaking , cause it seems like i soaked 1 cup, and after soaking was 2 cups…
i wish there was a way to instant message you…since i am cooking this now 🙂 sigh!
Oh SM, I meant one cup soaked. I should have mentioned that clearer in my post, but this was back when I wasn't very good at this. Also, I hear from people that this recipe doesn't always work so I was thinking of making this again and posting step by step pictures.
How did it turn out for you?
It looks really yummy,Nags…I need to try it in ur way next time..will let u know…:)
Is a pressure cooker required to cook the channa? I made this recipe and I soaked the channa overnight and then simmered it for hours but it was still very firm.
The sauce tasted good, although it was pretty watery – I added a bit of sour cream to thicken it up.
Edaly, that's strange that the channa still didn't cook after that. I have only tried to cook this in the pressure cooker, since that utensil is a staple in all Indian kitchens, but I do know of friends in the US who have tried it the way you did. Probably you could try the same with white chickpeas. And to make the gravy thicker, add more onions.
where did the hing and the turmeric go??
BEWARE Chana white or black(Kala) causes stomach distention
anon – you are referring to an extreme case. the soaking, discarding that water, cooking later, the spices and the cooking method for channa actually reduces this effect to a large extend.
Love chickpeas as well. We will also pre-boil the chickpeas first and then fry them in onion, dried chiilies and mustard seeds. Very yummy!