Kala Chana is a spicy chickpeas curry with a heady aroma of ajwain and garlic, goes well with chapatis or naan.
Kala Chana was given to me by one of our relatives many years ago. I was told that it is a North Indian dish. The name comes from the dark color that comes by cooking them in garam masala (It does not actually become black, but dark brown depending on garam masala used). I do not have any more details about this dish. This has a unique flavor from ajwain seeds. I used to make it very often as my son loved this garnished with few raw onions. I did not prepare this for many years, after my children moved out for their college. I found it back in one of my diaries while searching something.
Kala Chana is very easy dish to make. Do not substitute or leave out any of the ingredients as this one needs all the ingredients to get the real taste of it. You could adjust the level of spice according to personal preference.
Ingredients: 1 cup chickpeas( Kabuli chana ) 1/2 tea spn ajwain 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1 tea spn chopped ginger 3/4 tea spn red chilli powder 1 tea spn amchoor powder 1 tea spn garam masala 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds A pinch turmeric powder Oil Salt
For garnish: Chopped onion Chopped green chilli
Method: Soak chickpeas in water for about 5-6 hrs (When they are soaked, they swell up considerably. Depending on the quality, it can become 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups). Cook chickpeas with ajwain and garlic in pressure cooker till they are cooked. Heat oil and add cumin seeds, ginger. When they fried a bit, add amchur powder, turmeric, cooked chickpeas. Add garam masala , salt, chilli powder. Slightly mash the chickpeas with a spoon. Cook till the dish becomes dark in color. While serving, add green chillies and onions on top. Serve with chapathis .
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 35mins
Originally posted on Oct 13, 2008. Updated on Aug 9 2020. I use mixture of Black chana and Kabuli chana to give it the beautiful dark color and texture.
Ivy gourd is the vegetable loved by most. It is one of my favorite vegetables. I love it in any form. ‘Fried ivy gourd’ is a very easy to make and amazingly delicious dish. I was not very fond of this dish when I was a kid, but recently I have become a big fan. It tastes great when it is fried till the ivy gourds become almost black and you can’t even say those are ivy gourds. Hot rice, a simple daal and these fried ivy gourd is a complete meal I would cherish anytime.
Earlier we used to smash one tendli at a time in mortal and pestle. It would take a lot of time to prep them. Now I just cut the ends, take them in a ziploc bag and smash them using a meat tenderdizer/pestle.
‘Talasani’ are the dishes prepared by frying the vegetables in oil. So water should not be used at any point. The other popular talasani is ‘ batate talasani ‘.
Aayi’s version does not include garlic in this. But my brother tasted this dish at one of his friend’s place and they had used garlic. So he started using it in this dish. I love both the varieties. Although aayi does not use curry leaves, I like to use it.
The other ivy gourd dish I make frequently is tendli upkari . We use these in different types of daals and sambars also.
Ingredients: Ivy gourds(tendli) 2 cups Red chili powder 3/4 tea spn Turmeric a pinch Oil 1 tbl spn Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn Asafoetida a pinch or garlic cloves 2 (4-5 if Indian garlic is used) Salt
Increase the chili powder if required.
Method: Remove the ends of ivy gourds and crush them slightly.
Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add mustard (add curry leaves at this point if using). When they start popping, add asafoetida (or crushed garlic). Add the gourds, turmeric, chilli powder and salt.
Fry on a low flame till the gourds turn dark brown/black.
Serve hot with rice and daal.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: These should be fried on a very low flame. If they are not fried till dark brown/black, they remain tender from inside and do not taste good. These taste great when made spicy.
Originally posted on Octbober 9, 2006. Reposting by adding a video(demonstrated by my 6 year old).
