Thursday, October 24, 2013

Kerala Kadala Curry

Both Pras and I are morning people and so I'm always on the lookout for quickie breakfast recipes. I believe breakfast is a very important part of the day and should not be missed. Back in India, it was easier to manage breakfast with idlis, dosas, bread, cereal, oats and the occasional parathas on a weekday. Here, in Auckland, the idli and dosa batter is not available ubiquitously, the breads is quite different from what we get in India and hence the hunt for breakfast recipes is on.
Many people told me about the breakfast biscuits but nah, they aren't to our liking.  For a while I made rawa dosas and ran out of rawa/semolina. It takes some planning to get to the other side of town to purchase "Indian" groceries from the Indian supermarkets.

Anyhow, I decided to experiment and made this kadala curry to be served with thai rice noodles as a replacement for idiyappam. Except for the little bite to the noodles, it went quite well. So here's a big tick to this breakfast item.

Kadala curry is mainly made of chickpeas which are a high source of proteins. Since this recipe calls for the use of a pressure cooker as well as not discarding any of the water used, you should get the full benefits of the protein content. Serving this as an accompaniment to a rice based dish makes it a source of carbohydrates as well.

Preparation Time : 5 minutes if using store bought coconut milk, excluding time to soak the chickpeas
Cooking Time : 30-40 minutes

Ingredients (Serves 4):

  1. 1 cup black/dark chickpeas/kadala - washed and left to soak in water overnight
  2. 1 bay leaf
  3. 1 stick of cinnamon
  4. Water to boil the chickpeas
  5. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
  6. Salt to taste
  7. 1 medium sized onion chopped as finely as you can, need to go to extraordinary lengths
  8. 2 green chillis - slit
  9. Thick Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
  10. A pinch of asafoetida
  11. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
  12. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
  13. Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
  14. Curry leaves - a stick or two
  15. mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  16. Oil - 1tbsp
How I made it :
  1. In a pressure cooker, put in all ingredients from 1 to 6. The water level should be about 1 inch above the chickpeas.
  2. Cook on high for one whistle and then low for 4 whistles.
  3. While the pressure releases, in another pan, heat 1 tbsp oil
  4. Once the oil is hot, put in the mustard seeds and cover till the mustard seeds stop spluttering.
  5. Add the curry leaves and split green chillies.
  6. After 30 seconds, add the onions and fry till they turn pink.
  7. Add the red chilli powder, pepper powder, coriander powder and asafoetida.
  8. After 30 seconds, add the chickpeas and any remaining water.
  9. If there is too much water, allow it to boil till the water reduces to required quantity.
  10. Add the coconut milk and once it comes to a boil, adjust salt and turn off the heat
Serve hot with idiyappam, appam, puttu or like me thai rice noodles.

7 comments:

  1. hmmm....:) goooooood...cooking indian recipes in NZZZ

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  2. we love kadala curry...specially with puttu :-)...this recipe is very similar to mine :-)...looks yumm!!

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    1. It was yumm too. Made the brinjal fry - was great. I made it two ways, one the way you mentioned and for 2 slices i baked them with mushroom, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and garlic.

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  3. that was really quick. Still haven't gotten around to making coconut milk based stuff after the experience with the coconut milk powder. should try with readymade milk sometime.
    How about easy rava/broken wheat upma, poha or pancakes for breakfast?

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    1. Yup, I do make pancakes but not often him. Thanks for pointing that out. Poha and upma require some fine chopping right? But may be if I chop the veggies the previous night it will help. Will try.

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  4. Delicious kadala curry lvoe to eat with puttu yumm.

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