Puli Channa (Tamarind Chickpea Curry) and an Award

Author: kittymatti / Labels:

Tamarind Channa

Recipe courtesy: Rukmini Mami, Prema (my MIL)

The names itself suggests that this dish is a cross between North Indian and South Indian style of cooking. There is cute history behind this unique dish.
When my husband was in high school, he was recovering from a severe illness. He was not allowed to eat outside. He had a sudden craving for channa... As the kitchen in-charge at my in-laws' place, Rukmani Mami was not very familiar with N.Indian cooking, she came up with the recipe of her own! She did not have the regular chole masala/garam masala at home and she used maggi noodles tastemaker!!!-This gives a lovely taste to the curry :)
As she is an amazing cook, obviously it tasted good and my husband loved it soooo much. Infact, my husband prefers puli channa to the regular channa masala.
When my MIL, Prema visited us at Houston, she made this awesome dish and shared the recipe with me... It is very unique and surprisingly very tasty! I make this very often and I love it too:)
Here is the Rukmini Mami's Puli Channa recipe...


Ingredients:
1 tin channa (Chickpea) or 2/3 cup channa soaked overnight
1 onion-finely chopped
1 small tomato-finely chopped
1 lemon sized ball of tamarind
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera (cumin)
1 sprig curry leaves
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
1 tsp maggi tastemaker pkt from any maggi noodles OR garam masala
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/8 tsp jaggery- to balance the tangy tamarind
4 tsp oil

Add oil in a kadai. Splutter mustard and jeera. Add curry leaves.
Add the onion and saute till glassy, add tomato and saute till soft.
Add the tamarind extract and bring to boil.
Add salt, turmeric, chilli powder.
Add the soaked and pressure cooked channa. If using canned chickpea, wash well with water, drain and add.
Add maggi tastemaker or garam masala and allow the flavours to blend for a few minutes.
If too tangy, add a little jaggery. Serve hot with chappatis/rotis!

Thank u Ann for this lovely award! We are honoured!

29 comments:

Padma said...

That sure is a nice version of channa ... I too have posted a recipe with channa today .... and congrats on your award :)

Pavithra Elangovan said...

preethi that is really looking tangy and tempting..the nice brown color really loved that curry... yummmy...

Pavithra Elangovan said...

wow actually using maggi masala surely would have given nice taste.. will try it out immediately this week and let u know.. forgot to comment this..

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Congrats on your award he he .. three time commented.. forgetting everything...

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

I love your presentation! Looks so yum! Unique one too...
Congrats on your award...

kittymatti said...

thnx somooo
Padma, thnx, yrz looks so tempting!
Pavithra, so sweet of u! I do that often :) Thank u soooo much:)

Priyameena said...

That Looks very unique..I bet the channa and tamrind will sure give a unique taste..Drooling..

Nithya said...

I just love this.. Guess what, I am able to feel the smell here.. he he.. want it right away.. :)

chef and her kitchen said...

wow that is a very nice idea to add maggi masala....Tempting me to implement this soon...I wonder what to do with the noodles without that masala..Gimme some suggestions on that dear..

chef and her kitchen said...

n congrats on ur award gal..

Nithya Praveen said...

This is sumtng new that i have heard....very interesting one.A must try one.Bookmarked!Thanks for sharing!

Vijitha said...

Hey! even I posted a recipe with Channa. Lovely post! got the lovely Indian look to it n I am drooling over the pic :-)

Varsha Vipins said...

Lovely curry..Loved making it tangy n spicy..:)

Indian Khana said...

Interesting....tanggy and yummy...Congrats on ur award :)

ARUNA said...

tht's a gorgeous dish dear and congrats on your award!!

Subhie Arun said...

congrats on award..looks grt yar...grt click!

Jyoti said...

Great recipe ...am trying your version tomorrow !

Shama Nagarajan said...

nice recipe dear

Unknown said...

nice gravy with that tangy taste yummy recipe looks delicious.congrats on your award.

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow looks yum...love the flavours of tangy tamarind with chole.....Congrats on your award....

Malar Gandhi said...

Thats a lovely story. Maggi noodles taste maker, then I need to save them...from next time on. Kool recipe.

kittymatti said...

Eeeeeeeeee, Im so glad that so many of u r gonna try this! Makes me so thrilled...hope u guys like it...haha

prathy, know what, with the remaining noodles, just cook them like u would cook any noodles. Add veggies if u like, add red chilli sauce, soy sauce,salt, ajinomotto (optional), a lil green chilli sauce and a dash of vinegar (like the regular hakka noodles recipe)and enjoy!

Anonymous said...

hey thats sure new to me...sounds interesting...wat with the maggi tastemaker and tamarind water..I basically love pulippu..so i think am gonna like this a lot.

sangeeta said...

lovely story behind a recipe..........that's like the warmth of a home cooked personalized dish.

Deepthi Shankar said...

this is such a nice & simple version of chana

kittymatti said...

thnx deesha, sangeetha and shubha..I love pulippu too..

Rika said...

The very word puli brings water to my mouth n i'm sure this dish will too

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the curry chickpea recipe. I made this tonight and it was quite delicious served with quinoa which surprised me.

Changed the recipe a little, I added:

- fresh turmeric root + a little turmeric powder

- ground coriander

- fenugreek seeds ( i must have grabbed the wrong package because I thought they were mustard seeds until I read the label)

- mushrooms

Thanks again, Holly

kittymatti said...

Thanks holly for trying, really appreciate :)

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