Kondai Kadalai Kuzhambu is a delicious chickpea curry cooked in Chettinad style. This vegan dish has an immpeccable flavor & is easy to make on a weeknight! Chettinad Cuisine is my favorite for many reasons. The food is vibrant, vivid and vivacious by all means. Its a great blend of well-balanced flavors and is known for its spicy dishes. Now you understood why its my favorite cuisine? As per our history books, this cuisine belongs to the Chettiars (also called Nagarathars) who were a small community of traders, merchants and bankers who lived at Poompuhar and Kaveripatnam under the Chola kingdom in the South of India.
Ingredients
3 cups cooked chickpeas
For the masala1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
2 tbsp poppy seeds
6-7 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
2 tbsp fennel seeds
water as required
To make the curry1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
4-5 cloves
1 onion
4 tbsp Chettinad sauce/paste
salt as required
chopped onions and cilantro for garnish
Method- You can use canned chickpeas for this recipe. But I prefer using the dry ones. Soak them overnight and then pressure cook them in fresh water along with a pinch of turmeric and salt. You can even cook them in an Instant Pot. Basically, we need cooked chickpeas for this recipe.
- Then we need to prepare the masala. In a mixer grinder, add freshly grated coconut, roughly chopped tomatoes, poppy seeds, fennel seeds and garlic. Grind it to a smooth paste by adding little water. Keep this paste aside for now.
- Heat oil in a pan and once its hot add whole spices like cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, cloves and bay leaf.
- Fry for 15 seconds and then add the chopped onions. Saute till they turn translucent and then add Chettinad paste/sauce.
- Fry the sauce for a minute and then add the ground paste. Continue to fry this masala for another 3-4 minutes.
- Lastly add the cooked chickpeas and salt. Add water if you need and let it cook for 5 minutes.
- Chettinad Kondai Kadalai Kuzhambu is ready. Garnish with some chopped onions and cilantro. Serve it with any Indian bread or steamed rice. It's nourishing and delicious!