This version of Chana usli is usually distributed at the time of Ugadi and Rama navami festivals in our grama devi temple – which is a beautiful temple on the hills at our place. Everyone eagerly waits for this prasadam after pooja at the temple on these festivals. As some of our viewers requested, I thought of posting this traditional recipe. I got this from bhatmam (priest) of the temple who usually prepares this for the festivals. It is healthy and nutritious. Hence I introduced it as a side dish at our home too.
Ingredients: 1 cup chana/chickpeas (soak overnight in water) ½ cup grated coconut 6-7 red chillies 2 tea spn coriander seeds 2 tea spn mustard seeds ½ tea spn cumin seeds ¼ tea spn fenugreek seeds ¼ tea spn asafoetida 1 tea spn jaggery ½ tea spn tamarind Salt Oil
Method: Cook chana in sufficient water with the salt in a cooker and keep it aside. Fry coriander seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and red chillies in oil. Turn off the heat and add asafoetida. Coarse grind this along with grated coconut and tamarind with minimum quantity of water. Add this mixture to already cooked chana. Add jaggery to this and cook for 2 minutes. Chanal usli is ready to be served either with chapatis or as a side dish with rice. It can also be served as evening snacks.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 25mins
This recipe was given to me by my friend Poornima. This was about 4 years ago. I rarely make deep fried items and kodbale making requires some time and effort. So I never got to it. What is better timing than Diwali for making such dishes? So I made these on the festival day. They were superb. Half the batch got over that day itself. I made few modifications to the recipe. Here is the version I tried. The original version had onions in it, but I did not add it.
Ingredients: 2 cups rice flour 1 cup maida (all purpose flour) 1 cup rava/sooji 1 tea spn moong dal 1 tea spn urad dal 1 tea spn chana dal 5-6 red chillies 2 tea spns dry coconut (kobbari) 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1 tea spn cumin seeds Oil Salt
Method: Dry roast rice flour, maida(all purpose flour), rava/sooji for few minutes and keep it aside. Heat oil and add moong dal, urad dal, chana dal, red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, coconut for few minutes. Take care not to burn anything. Grind to a paste using just enough water. Add the paste to the flour mixture. Add salt and make a dough. Make kodbale and keep fry them in oil. They get soft if they are not fried well, so make sure to fry them till they are little dark in color. Store in air tight container.
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