Sunday, August 26, 2007

Food for little goddesses - Zeere Wala Chana





This dish is made in almost all North Indian households atleast two times in a year at the end of the nine day fasting period called the "Nav Ratra" . Usually this is served to all the young girls who are invited to the house that day . These young girls are believed to be the incarnations of Goddess Durga and are hence treated like that on that day . In my household we make it more than two times simply because we both love this dish .
When I saw Sunita's spice event 'Think Spice Think Cumin' , I thought of a lot of dishes like Zeera rice , Zeera aloo ...but then everyday I saw someone making them , blogging them and sending their entries to Sunita. With each passing day I ran out of options ....and then it struck me that I can make this recipe . But as usual I managed to miss the deadline set by Sunita :-( I seem to be developing an expertise in missing all these deadlines .
Well , though I missed the deadline I still made this dish and here I am sharing it with you all .

Zeere wala Kala Chana / Black chickpeas with Cumin
Black chickpeas/ Kala Chana - 2 cups
Cumin - 1 tsp.
Green chillies - 2-3
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Dry mango powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Asafoetida - a pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Soak the black chickpeas overnight and then pressure cook them with 3-4 cups of water. Add a little salt while pressure cooking the chickpeas . Cook till 4-5 whistles.
Once cooked drain the chickpeas and keep them aside .
In a pan heat the oil . Add a pinch of asafoetida to the oil and once you can smell it add the cumin . Then add the chopped green chillies followed by the boiled chickpeas. Stir well so that all the chickpeas are covered with oil . Then add the red chilli powder and coriander powder followed by the salt. Stir well till the chickpea is well fried and all the water has dried . Take the pan off the flame and when a little cool add the dry mango powder and stir well .
Traditionally it is served with pooris and sooji / atta halwa. You can serve it as a side dish with any wet /gravy . It can also be a part of the breakfast or a snack by itself .

5 comments:

FH said...

No matter what spices you use in those brown channa beauties, they taste so good.YUM!:)
Poori and Chana is a great combo too Cinnamon.

SPICE OF LIFE said...

thanks Asha ji ,

I totally agree the brown chana is yummy in every form and variation.

Sharmi said...

what a simple and elegant recipe. yummy!

Shah cooks said...

u have no clue how much i love this combination..i am so glad at least u blogged the sooji ka halwa too!!

Basil said...

Hi Cinnamon,
I know I am a little late posting a comment on this but I want to tell you that I have been searching for this recipe for so long. I have this craving for eating channa,puri and sooji ka halwa for such a long time but I couldn't make it the way they used to do it. Let me try making this one and I am sure this will taste good. Me and my sister would be invited for the pooja and given this prashad when we were young. It used to tastes so good and this reminded me of my younger days. So, thank you for posting this recipe.
Basil.