Kulcha chana with a twist

Kulcha - chana is a favorite of my husband . For me it was a new concept becuase I had never lived in Punjab till the time I got married. Apparently it is a very popular way of eating Kabuli Chana or Chola there. Now that I know more about it , I am not surprised that it is a popular combination. The ease of preparing this complete meal alongwith the flexibility of making it as spicy or bland as per individual's preference definitely make it popular with me ;-) .

Kulcha - chana is nothing but a spicy and tangy mix of chole or chickpeas with onions, tomatoes, green chillies stuffed in flat bread known as Kulcha.

As I told you all already, my mother-in-law has been living with us for about 3 months now and so I have been treated to delicious Punjabi dishes all this time . One fine day we decided to have Kulcha chana, the chana part was easy to take care of , but where do we get the Kulchas in a foreign land . That is where the "twist" came in ....we decided to replace the Kulcha with plain buns traditionally used for burgers . Since the buns absorb the juices in the chole we added a little more liquid to it than we would have if we had been using the Kulchas. The result was a filling and satisfying meal which left us wanting for more :-)


Ingredients -
Chickpeas/ chole / kabuli chana - 1 cup ( soaked overnight and then boiled in salted water till soft)
Red onion - 1 large (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 large (finely chopped)
Green chilli - 2-3 as per taste ( finely chopped)
Lime juice - 2 tsp (as per taste)
Tamarind pulp - 2 tsp
Black salt - as per taste
Salt - as per taste
Coriander leaves - a handful , chopped finely
Red chili powder - as per taste
Buns - 4

Cut the buns halfway through horizontally .
Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside . The fill them into the buns with the help of a spoon. Spoon a little liquid ( which gathers at the bottom of the vessel) over the chola mix and then press the buns to close them.


Serve immediately !! :)

P.S. : The chickpeas with the onions, tomatoes, etc make a lovely salad also which can be served chilled also :-) . In fact in my house , we had been having it as a salad all these years only.


This is my entry fro JFI -Chickpea being hosted by Sometime Foodie . JFI was a brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi blog.



This is also my second entry to Srivalli's My Legume Love Affair-7th helping.My Legume Love Affair was started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

This also goes to SWC- Salads under 15 minutes being hosted by my dear friend LG of Cooking station

Punjabi Rajma Masala - Punjabi Kidney beans in gravy

Let me begin by wishing everyone a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !! . I have been very very irregular with my blogging offlate , the reason for this is that I am hardly doing any cooking these days :-) . My mother-in-law has been in town for the past couple of months and hence we have been treated to delicious home made food everyday . I make the same things using the same recipe , but somehow it never turns out as tasty as the ones she dishes out everyday . Probably this is a result of the long experience . Over the years she has discovered a lot of time saving tricks which she has been kind enough to pass on to me . Here I am sharing one of those time saving techniques for making the world famous - rajma masala . Usually we all associate Rajma with lots of soaking , boiling and then getting around to make the curry , according to my mother -in-law there's no need for that . Read on to find out her secret ..to a quick and the best tasting rajma that I have ever had :-)

Ingredients –
Kidney beans/Rajma – 250 gms
Medium sized onions – 2
Tomatoes – 2
Garlic – 6-7 cloves
Ginger – 1 inch piece – finely chopped
Turmeric powder – ½ t sp
Red chili powder – 1 t sp (adjust as per taste)
Garam masala powder – 1 t sp
Salt – as per taste
Asafoetida – a pinch
Coriander leaves – chopped for garnishing
Oil – 2 tb sp

Soak the kidney beans overnight with enough water. Make a paste of onions and garlic. Heat oil in a pressure cooker; add the asafoetida powder and then the onion and garlic paste. Sauté for a minute and then add finely chopped ginger. Keep sautéing till the onion becomes a little brown, and then add the red chili powder, turmeric and salt. Then add the tomato paste. Sauté till the oil starts separating from the masala. In the meanwhile drain the kidney beans and keep them separately. Add the pre-soaked kidney beans to the masala and sauté them till all the water evaporates. Then add about 1 –1.5 glass of water and pressure cook Keep the flame high till the first whistle and after that cook on low flame for about 20 minutes. After that let the pressure cooker cool. Once cool check for tenderness, if the beans are soft then add garam masala powder. If the beans are not soft then pressure cook for some more time. Once cooked properly garnish with coriander leaves and serve with hot steaming rice. You can adjust the thickness of the gravy as per your requirement by adding more water or boiling it some more to thicken it.

You can also boil the kidney beans with water and salt separately and then mix the beans and the water in the masala. Then let it boil for 10 minutes till the time the masala gets mixed well and the gravy thickens.

This is my first entry for the Legume love affair of Srivelli , I hope she accepts it . This event is the brain child of Susan of The well seasoned cook.

Mooli Paranthas - Stuffed Indian Bread with Radish Stuffing

I have been thinking of publishing this recipe since a long time . Hubby dear has been quite insistent that I post it .....and so one fine day when I was making these ....hubby dear came with the almighty camera and clicked some snaps . Needless to say they are one of our favorite foods....they make for a filling breakfast / brunch/ dinner . Simple , easy to make , filling and completely satiating these paranthas represent the best things about Punjabi cuisine ....

Now that my friend LG decided to host the RCI -Punjab on her new blog Cooking Station I knew I had to take out these photos from the cold storage and publish this post. After having promised her umpteen times to send the entry I am finally sitting just a minutes away from the deadline ....I hope that she would accept this entry with my sincere apologies for being such a lazy bone .


Ingredients -



For the filling :

Radish/ Mooli - 2 ( medium size, grated coarsely)
Green chili - 2-3 ( as per taste)
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Carom seeds / Ajwain - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tb sp
Salt - as per taste

For the dough :

Wheat flour - 2 cups
Water - as required

Oil for frying

Method :

Make the dough with water , knead it with hands or in a food processor to a medium firm dough ( it should not be soft otherwise it would be difficult to roll it into a parantha after stuffing)

Wash and peel the radishes to remove the outer skin. Then coarsely grate the radish , leave it as it is for 5-10 minutes . Then firmly squeeze the grated radish and drain all the water , keep repeating this till the time almost no water is squeezed out.

Then add the coriander leaves, chili powder, carom seeds and green chili. Mix well the whole mixture . Add salt at the end ( the salt and chili should be a little on the higher side , because it will be compensating for the salt less dough )

The final filling

Make a small ( slightly bigger than a golf ball ) ball from the dough and roll it into a circle after dusting with plain flour. Then take this rolled out dough in one hand and put about a tbsp. of filling at the centre . Then bring all the sides to the centre and pinch them tightly . Then roll it into a ball , dust with plain flour and roll out into a circle with very light hands .

Simultaneously heat a girdle /tava and once hot put the rolled out parantha on it . Once slight brown specks appear at the bottom of the parantha turn it over and apply oil all over the surface . Then turn over to the other side and apply oil . Cook evenly on both sides till you get brown specks on the surface of the parantha.

Serve immediately with a dollop of butter / fresh cream or Pickles and Curd.


I am also sending this as an entry for the Roti-mela being hosted by Srivalli of cooking4allseasons.