Chhollia Ghasshi

I mentioned in an earlier post that food blogging does things to you. One of the things that it has done to me is broaden my horizons. While I have always been a non fussy eater, I haven't been a non fussy cook. There is a limited range of vegetables that I can cook. I've made varieties of dishes using those, but now I am willing to try and try some more.

Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables celebrates X this week. She asks us to pick something exotic, something we've never eaten or never cooked with, she asks us to experiment.

So, could I disobey Madam Nupur's orders? No way! I thought a lot about what I could try out. I did try out 2 things this week that I never had an opportunity to earlier. But one's a copy from another blog. So I'm sending this one to Nupur, with loads of love.

Chana Ghasshi is a very popular konkani dish. Ghasshi made with anything is kind of popular. The Chana Ghasshi uses the small black chana which is soaked overnight and cooked. I found Chhollia (fresh green chana) in the market last week and decided that I could use that. I had never cooked with it and had eaten it once or twice in my life (roadside munching).

I thought, why not? If I can put any dry lentil, why not a fresh one? That is how I ended up with a Chhollia Ghasshi on my plate.

Ingredients:

250g Fresh Green Chana (Chhollia), cooked

1/4 cup Scraped Coconut

2-3 Red Chillies

1/2 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Black Gram Dal (Urad Dal)

1 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds

1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste (Add more or less to taste)

Salt to taste

1 tsp Oil

For the tempering:
1 tsp Oil or Ghee
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the oil in a small kadhai and fry the chillies, black gram dal, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds. Grind this together with the chilli powder, turmeric powder, tamarind paste and coconut. Add a handful of cooked chhollia to this and grind to a paste.

In a vessel, combine the cooked chhollia, the paste and salt. Add some water to this and bring to a boil.

In a small kadhai, heat the oil or ghee, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add this to the ghasshi and serve hot with rice and dali saar.