Kala Chana Gravy (Chana Ghashi)

This is a traditional Konkani dish and is a regular fare at Konkani weddings. Like all Konkani dishes, we use coconut, red chilli and tamarind here. We cook a lot of different pulses in Konkani cooking but somehow the masala remains the same and yet every curry tastes different. So sometime back I started grinding together this masala to suffice a weeks cooking and storing it in the fridge and using small portions every day. This reduced cooking time drastically.

Method

1. Soak 1 ½ cup of black chickpeas (kala chana) overnight
2. Next day pressure cook it till  tender but not completely soft.
3. For the masala, dry roast 1 tsp of coriander seeds, 3-4 dry red chillies and grind together with ½ cup of freshly grated coconut and 1 small marble sized ball of tamarind to a fine paste. Dont add too much water while grinding
4. Now pour the masala and the cooked chana in a pan. You can add the water used to boil the chana too. Add 1 potato cut into cubes/  or raw banana cut into cubes or 1 cup yam cut into cubes
5. Add salt according to taste and cook till gravy boils and the potatoes are cooked. Turn off the gas.
6. Give a chaunk/seasoning with oil,1 tsp mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida, 5-6 curry leaves. Cover the dish and let the gravy absorb the flavours of the seasoning
7. Serve with rice

I have used raw jackfruit (kathal in hindi) in the above picture instead of potatoes.