Black Chickpeas Curry is a spicy and tangy curry. Chickpeas are rich in nutrients and there are many ways in which you can prepare chickpeas. Chickpeas can be used to make sundal, gravy, fritters, hummus, falafels and a wide variety of other dishes. This is curry based on tamarind and coconut.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Black Chickpeas/Black Channa/Kondaikadalai
- 2 Brinjals, sliced
- 1 Radish, peeled and sliced
- 10-15 Shallots, peeled
- 5 Garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 Tomato, sliced
- 2 Green chillies, sliced
- 2 sprig Curry leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon Fennel seeds
- 1/4 cup Coconut, grated
- Tamarind small lemon sized
- 2 tsp Kuzhambu powder
- 1 tsp Salt or as needed
- 4 and 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp Water
Preparation:
Wash and soak the chickpeas in 2 cups water for about 8 hours or overnight.
Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup of water.
The chickpeas would have soaked up the water and increased in volume. Drain the water, and transfer it to a pressure cooker with 1/2 tsp salt and 2 cups of water on a high flame. Reduce the flame to a medium, once the steam starts to come out and pressure cook 10-15 minutes.Let the steam settle itself. Open the lid of the pressure cooker. Take a chickpea between your fingers and give it a squeeze. If it is soft and splits, then it is cooked. Do not discard the excess water.
Take 1/4 cup grated coconut and 1/4 tsp fennel seeds in a blender. Grind it to a paste with 2 tbsp water.
Heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame and add mustard. After it crackles, add cumin and 1/4 tsp fennel.
Next, add onion, garlic, green chilli and curry leaves.
Once the onion turns translucent, add the brinjal and radish. Sauté for a few minutes the vegetables will start to change colour.
Add the tomato and salt and stir through. The tomato will turn soft.
At this point, add the Kuzhambu powder and mix well.
Add the tamarind extract and cooked chickpeas along with its water to the kadai. It starts to boil in a few minutes. Let the raw smell of tamarind leave. Allow the vegetables cook through for about 10 minutes in a low to medium flame.
Add the ground coconut-fennel paste. Stir them all together. Let it boil for a minute or two and switch off the flame.
Serve hot with rice.
Notes:
- Do not discard the excess water from pressure cooking the chickpeas as it sets the base for the curry.
- I had about 1 cup water left after cooking the chickpeas.
- Make sure to check if the brinjal and radish are cooked before adding the coconut paste.
- Do not cook for more than a few minutes after adding the coconut paste.
