Name: Kadala Curry | Kerala Style Kadala Curry Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 760 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Black Chickpeas ((Kala Channa) 1 cup - 250 ml ); 2 nos Onion (Medium size); 2 nos Tomato (Medium size); ½ tsp Ginger (chopped); ½ tsp Garlic (chopped); ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder; ½ tsp Coriander Powder; ½ tsp Red Chili Powder; 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves (chopped); 1 tsp Coconut Oil; Salt (to taste); 1 tsp Coconut Oil; 2 tsp Coriander seeds; 2 nos Red Chili; 1 inch Cinnamon Stick; 2 nos Cloves; ½ tsp Fennel Seeds; 2 nos Cardamom; ⅓ cup Grated Coconut

Very flavorful, mildly spicy and tasty one.

4.67 from 6 votes

Kadala Curry is from Kerala cuisine made using Kala Channa (black chickpeas), one of the perfect accompaniment to Aapam and Puttu. It's a coconut gravy with freshly ground masala and black chickpea - a very flavorful, mildly spicy and tasty one.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Soaking Time 12 hours

Total Time 12 hours 40 minutes

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Kadala Curry is a famous and traditional dish in Southern Part of TamilNadu and especially in Kerala. Kadala curry is generally served with Appam, a healthy breakfast and also with Kuzhal Puttu. A best accompaniment for both Appam and kuzhal puttu. Lets see how to make this yummy dish.

Recipe Card for making Kadala Curry

Method for making Kadala Curry :

Wash and soak the chole overnight or atleast for 12 hours. It is advisable to soak the chole overnight then only it would be cooked nicely. After 12 hours, drain the water from chole, add fresh water just to soak the chole and add salt and pressure cook it allowing for 5-6 whistles.
While the chole is getting cooked in cooker, lets prepare our curry paste. Heat oil in a pan and add all the grinding ingredients other than grated coconut and roast them in oil till they turn dark brown color

Then add the grated coconut to the fried ingredients and again roast the coconut till it turns nice and dark brown

Take this to the mixer and grind it to a nice paste. Take the powder aside. When the chole is cooked, take out 2 tablespoon of chole and grind it to a nice paste in the mixer. This is for making the gravy thick in consistency. Do not drain excess water from cooked chole. The cooked excess water would give a nice color and flavour to the dish.

Now heat the pan and add oil. When the oil is hot add chopped ginger and garlic and saute them for couple of minutes. Then add finely chopped onions along with a pinch of salt and saute them till they turn translucent

Add chopped tomatoes and mix well. To this now add turmeric powder, coriander and red chilli powder and allow the tomatoes to cook till they are mushy.

When the tomatoes are cooked nicely and becomes mushy, remove this masala from flame and add it to the cooked chole. Again cook the chole with the onion-tomato masala in pressure cooker for 1 whistle. This step is optional, but the onion-tomato masala gets nicely combined with the chole if you again allow for a whistle in pressure cooker

When the pressure is released from the cooker, take out the cooked chole with masala and keep it in flame and bring it to boil. Now add the ground curry paste along with chole paste and mix well. Adjust the salt and allow it to boil for a minute and then remove from flame. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves