Kerala Kadala Curry

Kadala curry - one awesome side dish to go with Appam/ Idiyappam/ Puttu/ Parotta/ Chapathi or even rice. There are very rare chances of a mallu to have not had it or hate it. 

I have always loved to pair it with puttu. Every time I make it, I remember my mother making it on weekends, esp. sunday's. She would be hurriedly making it to serve it for breakfast before we head to the church. Appam, Idiappam, Puttu etc. where the speciality of the weekends unlike the weekdays when there would be school and we would hardly sit down and eat breakfast with the fear of missing the school bus. Oh and we would have the breakfast twice on sunday's. One before we head to the church and one after we are done with the mass and the catechism :). 

When I talk about such memories to Jacob, he would always remember his Sunday with hot fish curry with some steaming rice, after they would have returned home tired having played soccer after catechism. I guess each one of us would have a memory associated with their favorite food, isn't it?

Ingredients

1. 1 cup of Kadala/ Kala Chana / Black Chickpea, washed and soaked overnight
2. ¼ tsp of turmeric powder
3. 2-3 pearl onion sliced
4. 1 tbsp of coriander seeds
5. ¾ cup of grated coconut
6. 2 cloves
7. 2 cinnamon stick, about 1 inch each
8. 5-6 black pepper
9. 1 star anise
10. ¼ tsp of fennel seeds
11. 1 cup of sliced red onion
12. 1 tbsp of grated ginger
13. 2 green chilies , slit
14. 2-3 red chillies
15. 1 tsp of red chilly powder
16. 2-3 tbsp of coconut chips/bits
17. A sprig of curry leaves
18. Salt to taste

Method

• Drain off the water from the soaked chickpea. Rinse it with fresh water and transfer it into a pressure cooker with enough water to cook. Add turmeric powder and salt. Cook it under pressure until soft. For me, it took 1 whistle on high heat, followed by 3 whistles on medium- low heat. Wait for the pressure to subside. Open the pressure cooker and check if the chickpea has cooked.
• Heat about a tsp of oil in a pan, once hot add the ingredients 4-10. Roast it on medium to low  heat, until the coconut turns golden brown. You will need to constantly stir it to avoid burning of coconut. Switch off and leave it aside to cool down a bit. Grind it into a paste by adding little water.
• In another pan, take about 2-3 tbsp of oil. Add the coconut chips/bits to it and saute it until it turns brown. Add the sliced onion, ginger, green chillies, red chillies and curry leaves. Saute it until, the onion turns tender and brown. Add the chilli powder and give it a mix. Add the ground mixture and mix it thoroughly. Let it cook for about a minute. Add the gravy/water from the cooked chickpea to it. Bring it to a boil.
• Add the cooked chickpea to it. Mix it well and let it cook over medium heat until the curry thickens just a bit(it would thicken more as it cools down) and attain the consistency that you want to have. Adjust salt and switch off the heat.
• Serve it hot with some Appam/ Idiyappam/ Puttu/ Parotta/ Chapathi.

Tips

1. If you feel that your curry is a little too runny, grind about a ladle full of chickpea in a blender and add it back to the curry. It would help thicken the gravy.
2. I have added red chilly powder, dry chillies and green chillies to the curry. It makes the curry spicy. If you like it less spicy, adjust the amount of ingredients accordingly.