Channa Kurma, this is the second channa kurma recipe for chapati/idli/dosa on this website. This channa kurma is my school friend Esai’s mom’s recipe. For my version of channa kurma recipe, please click here.
Let’s first take about my friend Esai. Her Full Name is Esaivani. In Tamil, Esai means Music and, Vani is like the goddess. True to her name, she has got a beautiful voice and sings so well. But to this date, I couldn’t understand how did her parents choose a correct name that defines her perfectly. Not only her voice, but she is also a beautiful woman. Now, she is mom to naughty munchkin Sai Shravan, living in the UK. Our friendship started in 6th grade, continues still in 2020. At school, few junior students thought we were sisters because we were very close and, all the time, we had seen together. I don’t know how we both gel very well though both have different personalities. Esai is punctual, perfect in whatever she does, sincere, speaks sweet who would think a lot before she puts a word.
Esai used to bring channa kurma with poori and Idly for lunch, mostly with poori. She had brought the poori and channa combo very often like, sometimes three times a week for lunch. Peculiarly she used to peel the channa’s skin and eat only the inner soft part. She has said now she eats the whole channa no more peeling and all! Whenever she had brought poori and channa, during lunchtime, everyone in our class(only girls) pass our lunch box’s lid to her. She would then keep a bite of poori dipped in the channa kurma on our lid’s and give it back to us. On those days, she didn’t get time to eat her lunch as you could imagine she was busy sharing food with others.
In the 10th grade, our chemistry teacher opened esai’s lunch box during class hours to have a look. Esai’s lunch on that day was poori and channa kurma. With Esai’s permission teacher took a bite of poori with channa. After the first bite, the taste of the channa kurma captivated her so she couldn’t resist herself, ate almost esai’s entier lunch for that day. From then, the chemistry teacher had become addicted to the Easi mom’s channa kurma, and in every Chemistry class, she started to inquiry esai’s lunch..
About Esai’s Mom:
If I want to describe esai’s mom, Lakshmi, the owner of this channa kurma recipe, she is a hard-working and multi-tasking superwoman. Every day she looked after four kids, three girls and the last boy, husband, mother in law, father in law and also supported their home business, a grocery shop. I had always seen her working on something. My friend Esai is the third child. Now, except Esai’s only younger brother, all three sisters got married, have kids. Sadly, her in-laws were no more. All her children were living in different cities. I think Esai’s mom’s everyday busy life would come to a slow pace now.
Recently, my school classmate has created a high school WhatsApp group. After almost two decades, we all have reunited. When everyone was reminiscing about the happy school days and the food we shared, esai’s channa kurma and poori suddenly came to mind. I madly wanted to eat that kurma. Immediately asked Esai for the recipe also, I told her that I need the exact recipe she brought to the school. She then asked her mom and shared the same recipe with me. I tried the recipe and it came out the same as the kurma I had tasted in school days. It took me back to my innocent, happy school days. So now, Whenever I make esai’s channa kurma at home, it transports me to the old days. Yes, for me, food is a time machine that can take me to the good old days.
Esai’s mom learned the channa kurma recipe from her mom in law, Unnamalai. So it is esai’s family recipe passed down to the third generation. At my friend’s home, they usually make this channa kurma for breakfast dishes like poori, idly, and dosa. I serve it with both steamed white rice and poori, Idli, and dosas. However, I should say this kurma is the best match for poori, chapati, dosa and, idly. The cooking procedure/method of this the channa kurma is a total surprise for me. I had never heard a cooking procedure the same as this.
Here is Esai’s mom’s Channa kurma recipe for you all. Please, do try this channa kurma later you will come back here to thank me!
Other delicious recipes to try:
Street Style Kurma for Idly/Dosa
Ingredients:
1.5 cups of dry garbanzo beans/chickpeas
required water
1- onion medium-size
1- tomato medium size
3- brinjal cubed(optional)
1 – large potato cubed(optional)
required salt
Spice powders:
1.25 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
For ground masala:
1- medium-size onion chopped
1-tomato medium-size chopped
2 tbsp of oil
1/4 cup of grated coconut
1 tbsp of fennel seeds
2 – cloves
1 – cinnamon stick(1/2 inch)
Tadka/tempering:
2 – tbsp of oil
1 tsp of mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida/hing(optional)
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tbsp of ginger and garlic paste
a sprig of curry leaves
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
Other interesting recipes :
Procedure:
Step 1:
- In a large bowl, soak the dry channa overnight. The water level should be 2 inches above the channa.
Step 2:
- Drain the water from the channa and rinse in freshwater.
- Add the soaked channa to a pressure cooker with some salt and water. The water level should be again 2 inches above the channa.
- Pressure cook channa for a whistle or until just cooked. Allow the pressure to release naturally.
4. Add in the chopped onion, tomato, veggies(if any), and spice powders to the cooked channa and bring it to boil.
5. Let the channa and veggies boil until veggies become the soft and raw smell of the spices go away, about 15 minutes or so.
Step 3: Ground Masala:
- While the channa and veggies are simmering, In a separate frying pan, heat the required oil and saute the onion until translucent, followed by tomato until tomatoes are soft.
- In a blender, grind the sauteed veggies and coconut into a smooth paste. If required, add little water for grinding.
- In to the ground masala, add the fennel seeds, cloves, and cinnamon and give a two-pulse.
Step 4:
- Once the veggies added to the channa become soft, add in the ground masala, mix well and let the channa kurma simmer for 5 minutes or so. At this stage, taste the gravy and adjust the salt and spice level.
Step 5:
- While the channa kurma is simmering, heat the required oil in the same frying pan used for sauteing veggies.
- When the oil is nice and hot, reduce the heat and add the mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle, then add in the rest of the ingredients for tadka and saute for 2 minutes in low heat.
3. Add this tempered ingredients along with the oil to the simmering channa kurma, mix well and simmer until the kurma thickens, about 5 mins or so.
4. Turn off the stove and serve the delicious channa kurma with Poori, chapati, idli, dosa, or steamed white rice.
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