Channa Masala/SideDishForRoti

              This is such a protein packed side dish .We love it a lot along with our chapathi/roti .Adding of kasuri methi gives a nice hotel/restaurant style finish to this side dish .Cook the Channa perfect to relish this curry much .

Before going to the recipe
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Some other gravies for roti/chapathi

• PaneerButterMasala
• Malai Kofta
• Mushroom Gravy
• BlackChanna in peanut  gravy
• Rajma Gravy

Preparation time:5 min

cooking time:25-30 min

serves:2

Malai Kofta /Malayi Kofta

This malai kofta is very rich and can make you feel like eating in a royal palace dinner(for me atleast) .When we eat in hotels  we cant be sure when they made it or how much salt,cashews they put in making the gravy rich .When you make it home you can make it fresh and you can reduce the amount of cashew or cream going in to the dish .That is the very good thing making these gravies home.This month challenge to south team is malai kofta and is challenged by nupur  .We enjoyed the dinner yesterday night with these wonderful koftas and Rotis .It was so rich and so yummy ..Thanks nupur for the wonderful challange.Thanks to divya for starting this wonderful group .

Preparation time : 20 min
cooking time:40 min
Serves:2-3 

Ingredients :
Salt required
oil for tempering and frying the koftas.

Kofta :

• 1 large potato(boiled and grated )
• 1/2 cup curdled milk(50 grams paneers grated)
• pinch f garam masala
• pinch of chili powder .
• corn flour (for dusting)
• 3 tbsp corn flour

For gravy:

• 1 large onion
• 1 tomato(pureed)
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 garlic
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
•  pinch of garam masala
• 1/2 cup wholefat milk.
• 10 cashew(paste).

Spices:

• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamom
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1/2 bay leaf

Method:
I used home made paneer for koftas and evaporated milk for gravy.
This gravy is very easy if you have the above two ingredients ready made.

Gravy:

• Puree a large tomato and keep it .
• Puree the cahews as well .
• In a saute pan add little oil and add Spices(cloves,cadamom,cinnamon and bay leaf ).
• Add coarsley chopped ginger garlic to it and saute for sometime .
• Add onions and saute until its translucent .
• Switch off the flame and cool it and grind it in to a smooth paste .
• Add it to the saute pan and turn the heat on .
• Add pureed tomato  and cook it for 5 min .
• Add chili powder ,turmeric and garam masala and stir well and cook it with required water (add enough water otherwise gravy will be too thick at the end) for 10 min until the gravy is little thick  and oil seperates out .
• Add cashew paste and cook it for 5 more minutes .

• Finally add the full cream milk or evaporated milk in low flame for another 10 min.
• Everything will come together add the required salt as well .

Koftas:

• Grate the boiled ,peeled potatoes .
• Grate the paneer as well .
• Combine the paneer,potatoes with chili powder,garam masala and enough salt .
• Mix well and make around 10 small balls out of it .
• Coat the balls with corn flour and deep fry it for 3 minutes (i fryed 3 balls at a time so it took me 3 minutes may be it varies depends on the climate and oil temperatture ).
• Fry it until the balls are golden brown.

Assembly/Serving  :

• Gravy has to be hot so if you have done the gravy before serving them heat it again .
• Add the koftas to it and add cream if required .
• Add chopped corinader leaves as well .
• Serve it with roti or any flat breads like naan ,kulchas .

Note:

• Original recipe calls for paneer as i attempted to make paneer home but i failed to make it so i used the curdled milk with corn flour .If you have paneer then the koftas would be perfect.
• Add cream if you prefer otherwise evaporated milk would give the taste of malai kofta gravy.
• My malai kofta was little spicy, you can reduce the amount of chili powder in gravy to make it little sweet.
• While frying the whole spices and onions if your oil is hot, fry the onions first instead of ginger garlic (if the oil is very hot and  u fry the ginger garlic first then ur dish may taste little bitter).
• You can use home made paneer and evaporated milk so i planned 1 hour before started cooking the gravy so plan accordingly .
• Evaporated milk has the lowest fat content(8 percent) compared to cream(30-36 percent) or heavy cream(36-40 precent).To know the difference in cream and evaporated milk you can check here 

To make paneer home :Homemadepaneer
To make condensed milk/evaporated milk home :Homemade milkmaid
Yummy paneer curry:Paneer butter masala(with less butter and no cream)

black channa in peanut curry (கொண்டை கடலை)

I make black channa dishes often.I am vegeterian and to get more protien in my diet I add dal varieties. I have a special liking to this channa inspite of others dals, I don't know why .This channa is very good for eye health and is very rich in protien than white channa. I regularly grind onions and tomatoes and add it to the curry if I make parathas, rotis . But this time I thought of doing something different and bhawnas recipe got my attention and this is my take on the same.


You can check other curries like Rajma gravy,Vegetable kuruma

Preparation time:12 hrs(soaking the channa)
Cooking time:15 min+15 min
Serves:2-3

Ingredients:

•  1 cup black channa(soaked overnight)
• 1 medium size onion
• 1/2 country tomato
• 1 green chili.
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste.
• Oil for tempering.
• A pinch of turmeric
• salt as required.

Roast and grind:

• 10 groundnuts.
• 1/4 tsp sesame seeds.
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds.
• 2 red chili.
• 1/2 tsp methi seeds

To temper:

• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds.
• 1 inch bayleaf
• 1 cloves.

Method:

• Soak the channa dal overnight.
• Cook it in a pressure cooker until it turns soft.
• Roast and grind the ingredients in roast and grind list to a coarse powder.
• If the groundnuts are raw you can roast them seperately.
• Grind the tomatoes in to puree.or chop them .
• Cut the onions very thin.
• Temper the hot kadai with oil in items to temper.
• Add onions,green chili and saute them for a minute.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute it until the onions are translucent.
• Add the ground tomato paste/tomato and saute it until cook through.
• Add pinch of turmeric .
• Cook it for 2-3 min .
• Add the cooked channa,groundnut mixture to it.
• Add water if required .
• Let it come to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
• If the gravy is too thin add 1 tsp rice flour to 1 tbsp water and add it to the curry.
• Serve it with hot rotis,chapathis,parathas of your choice.
• Serve them with variety rice like coconut rice,lemon rice,plain biriyanis as well.

Linking it to 

Sapanas event,

priyas event hosted by nandoo

 Poornimaspage and gayathrisevent

Lets cook for christmas

Simple senstations Letscookfor christmas

Christmas recipes

Cusine delights

Tangy Kofta Gravy (பருப்பு/கோலா உருண்டை குழம்பு )

This is an authentic and famous chettinad dish. This dish is usually prepared during festive occasions and as a special for guests. It takes a little work compared to normal kulambu but trust me this is worth the extra effort. Just taste this once and you will be hooked. You can eat this with rice and simple vegetable like cabbage curry,Pumpkin curry.

Preparation time:1 hour(soaking the dal)+10 min
Cooking time:30-40 min
Serves:3

Puffy Pooris and Rajma gravy

Poori is a popular breakfast food all over India. Poori is every ones favourite because its deep fried. Even though roti and chapathi's are healthier options poori is a delicacy.
When I was a kid my mom rarely used to make poori, she still maintains that its not healthy. When we used to go out to eat out we always wanted to eat poori. Its very special and always yummy. Pooris in restaurants are extra puffy and as kids we used to poke them and play with them.
As a mom I always want my little one to eat healthy but my daughter loves poori.These pooris absorb less oil and they are puffy . They go very well along with any hot gravy,kuruma & potato subjis.

Check for breakfast recipes like Kuli paniyaram,Lentils dosa,LemonSemiya Bath,Greenchanna Paratha

Poori:
Making Time:40 min
Yields:18 medium size pooris


Ingredients :

• 2 1/4 cup wheat flour
• Required water(around 1 cup)
• Salt as required
• Oil for frying the pooris

Method:

• Mix the wheat flour with water and salt in a large mixing bowl
• The dough has to be thick otherwise  you end up with oily pooris.

• Don't let the dough rest make poori's as soon as you can.
• Place a small sauce pan /kadai in stove with enough oil to fry the pooris.
• The oil should be very hot (It should not be smoky)
• Separate the dough in to 18 pieces.
• Roll them with the rolling pen or chappathi maker.

• Fry them in oil at high temperature.
• Wait 10-15 secs in between pooris.
• Remove from oil and drain in paper towels.

For the entire batch my kitchen towels absorbed only this much oil.

Note:

• The dough should be hard but not too hard so you cant roll that out.
• If the oil is not hot enough the pooris will get soggy.

Rajma Curry:

Preparation time:12 hrs(soaking the rajma)

Cooking time:30 min

Serves:3 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rajma Soaked overnight
• 1 medium size onion
• 1 medium size tomato
• 1 inch ginger piece
• 1 garlic pod.
• A pinch of turmeric.
• 1/4  tsp  chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder

Method:

• Roughly chop the onion,tomato ,garlic and ginger. 
• To a hot saute pan pour some oil.
• Add garlic and ginger first and saute them for a few seconds

• Add Onions and saute them until translucent.
• Add tomatoes and saute it until its cooked through.

• Add the masala powders and saute for a few seconds.
• Cool and grind the mixture.
• Cook the rajma in a pressure cooker until soft(8-10 whistles)
• To a hot saute pan add little oil and add cumin seeds.

• After it changes colour add the ground paste.
• Add little more water if required and cook them for around 5-10 min until it thickens
• Add the cooked rajma and boil the curry/gravy until both of them come together.
• If you have time let the curry simmer, flavors will seep into rajma.

• Rajma is ready to be served with chapathi,rotis,dosas.

Note:

• Cooking of rajma takes time .If its not cooked, cook them again in the pressure cooker.
• Don't add too much water curry has to be little thick.

Linking it to

Gayathris event and sahasra page