Chana Thakkali Kuzhambu

          Only very few dishes go well with everything, like idlis, dosas, rotis, puris, pulaos or just mixed with plain white rice, this is one such, usually I make it without even adding the chana, just with some small onions. Today I added chana and made it protein-rich, you can make it with brinjals, potatoes and even with mushrooms. This definitely tastes different from the usual chana masala, so try this, I am sure you'll like it..


Need To Have

• Chana - 1 + 1/2 cups
• Tomato Puree - 2 + 1/2 cups
• Manathakkali Vathal - 2 teaspoons
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coconut - 1 tablespoon
• Curry Leaves - a sprig

Roast And Grind

• Coriander Seeds - 1 + 1/2 tablespoons
• Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Sesame Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chana Dal - 1 teaspoon
• Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon
• Black Peppercorns - 1 teaspoon
• Dried Red Chillies - 2

Method
          Soak the chana overnight and pressure cook them. Roast all the ingredients given under roast-and-grind and make a paste with the coconut and  2 tablespoons of the cooked chana. Take the tomato puree, add the paste, turmeric powder, salt and enough water, mix well and keep. Heat oil, add the manathakkali vathal and the curry leaves, when the sizzling stops, pour in the tomato mixture and the chana, boil and simmer for 7 to 10 mins. Remove and serve with whatever you are planning to have that day, idli, dosa, etc..

Sending this to Saffron Streaks who is hosting the Cooking With Seeds event this month, which was started by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.

Note 
For those who are not familiar with manathakkali vathal, it is the sun dried seeds of the manathakkali plant, it is available in the grocery stores in India, it looks like peppercorns ( a little lighter shade), but not as hard. If you don't find them, just do the seasoning with mustard and fenugreek seeds.
The tomatoes available here are never very sour, use the fleshy tomatoes, not the small tart ones.
 Adjust the red chillies to your taste, mine are very spicy, so I use only two.