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Thursday 4 March 2010

Mughlai Green Chana and Soya Salan

P1020176
Hi Everyone.
I have a very peculiar habit in me, probably lot of people might be doing that..I always write my name and the date of purchase whenever I buy a book. I am a hoarder when it comes to cookbooks and I started collecting cook books right from my initial days of college. The first cook book that I ever bought or rather it was gifted by a very close friend of mine Swati…Nita Mehta’s Paneer Swaad ka Khazana. But ever since then I have been collecting books…big or small. Today I have probably more than 50 cook books apart from the diaries that I maintain in which I scribble down my recipes from magazines, cookery shows… The first time I started writing recipes must have been in 7th or 8th standard.
Today I share a very simple and yet very tasty Mughlai recipe from Nita Mehta’s Mughlai Vegetarian Khana which I had bought on 16th May’97. I had tried a few kababs and curries then. In the due course I bought many other books and this book had taken a back seat. One of these days when I was arranging all books, my eyes landed on this book again,  I started turning the pages and I spotted this recipe... I was eager to try it as I had all the ingredients available in the pantry...so convenient!!! The end result was a mild recipe which I surely made a little more spicy and adjusted a few more ingredients to make it suitable for our taste buds..( my mom would say..jeebhe che chochale), meaning pampering taste buds.
Mughlai Food is the food that was eaten and relished  by the Indians during the Mughlai period. Mughlai khaana stands apart as the empress of the Indian range of cooking. It lays stress on good ingredients, low flame and rich spices. Ingredients such as almonds, poppy seeds and flovoring spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mace and Nutmeg are used to prepare Mughlai food. Curd and cream form the gravies having less stress on tomatoes. Onions are usually deep fried to  a golden brown colour and then blended to be used in gravies. However, this recipe uses the tomatoes as well as curds and the onions are not deep fried.
Ingredients
1 cup hara chana or chholia (fresh green gram)
soya chunks-12-13 soaked in hot milk for half an hour
1/2 cup thick yogurt beaten
3 onions chopped roughly
2 tomatoes chopped roughly
2 tsp coriander pwd
salt to taste
2 tsp red chili pwd
1/2 tsp garam masala
oil for cooking
Flavouring Paste
1 tbsp poppy seeds
3 green cardamom
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
3-4 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 flower mace
and 1/2 tbsp oil
Method
For the flavouring paste heat the oil and fry all spices on a low flame, now remove the bay leaf and grind them to a rich aromatic paste to be used later.
Grind together the onions, tomatoes and ginger. Heat oil and add the coriander powder followed by the onion paste. Cook till oil separates. Reduce flame, add garam masala, red chili powder and salt and cook for a minute.
Remove the pan from the flame and mix in the beaten curds (this prevents curdling), once properly mixed, cook with continuous stirring till oil separates. Mix in the the milk left from the soy nuggets and cook till dry.
Add in the chana and nuggets and cook on low flame for 5 mins, now add about 2 cups of water and bring the curry to a boil. Cook on low flame till the chana gets cooked.
Add the flavouring paste, cover and cook on low flame for another 5 mins.
Serve hot with rice or roti.
food2-3
One can completely use green chana to make this curry.
The end result surely left me happy and I was glad I opened the book and re-read it.Thumbs-up It is not a recipe that I will cook regularly as the fresh chana is only available in winter but I will surely make this again the next winter not only for it’s taste but also because of the high protein content it offers.

53 comments:

  1. Slurppp!!thats a tempting, rich and fantastic salan, its kinda hard for us to get green chana, guess i can try out white channa...lovely dish to enjoy with some flaky parathas...Thanks for sharing dear..

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  2. I too have that habit of writing my name.date and the place where brought it..that's delicious salan and would be great with any kind of rotis..

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  3. Yummy!!!The Salan looks so rich and tasty! beautiful click too:)

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  4. Nice click..Salan looks super delicious..

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  5. Hey Pari
    Curry looks awesome...very rich and royal..I too make this curry using matar...you reminded me..

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  6. Priya, white chana is a good thought, the only thing is with the dried version the cooking time increases, will be best with fresh ones.
    Bala, same pinch dear, good to hear some one shares my peculiar habit.
    Thanks Rachana, i am glad u like the recipe and the click.
    Thanks Sarah.

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  7. Hey, just like your other recipe(Flambeed Peppers) these look decadent and mouthwatering!

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  8. very nice pic,,the dish looks creamy and tasty

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  9. Fabulous...Never cooked with fresh channa.Don't think that it's available here :(
    That's a great habit you got :D

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  10. YUM! I haven't seen fresh green chana in a long time. Great dish with Soy too.

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  11. Dear pari
    Very nice dish and i enjoyed your write up too.
    This is the time to use the green chana , But the season is almost gone I guess.
    WIll try in April if green chana is still there..else next year :-(
    Best wishes

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  12. Beautiful colour and lovely recipe.

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  13. High protein gravy.............yummy

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  14. Pari,

    Mughalai salan look super deliciou

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  15. delicious salan and also enjoyed abt reading mughlai cooking..

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  16. The salan looks and sounds awesome...very rich and healthy dish :)

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  17. Unique combo of green channa and soya...nicely done.

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  18. Wow 50 cook books! I too love collecting those.. but just started recently ... so only have around 10 :-( The curry looks yummy 'n healthy...

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  19. Even I've this habit of adding date and place from where I brought, just brings a smile when you open the page after years... I've not tried teh veg versions of any mughlai dishes, now I plan to prepare something soon.

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  20. looks yummy!surely goeswell with chapathi!

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  21. Nice and different recipe..could never imagine of this combo

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  22. quite new recipe pari.looks very rich too.Bit hectic with daiy schedule to post recipe in my blog.Will surely send my entrieds to ur event before 9th.

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  23. first cookbook always has such nice memories associated with it, doesn't it! Mine was (guess what) Ruchira.. given to me by my Aaji-Aajoba as a wedding present. I still cherish that copy more than any other cookbook ever!

    Nice intro of mughlai cuisine, Pari. I loved the soya chunks and the hara chana curry.. looks so yummy and protein-rich!

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  24. That's v tempting....nice presentation!

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  25. Even i have the habit of collecting cookbooks whenever i go for shopping but 50 is quiet a lot pari...Must see your collections,...and this gravy looks rich and creamy,love mughalai food,the taste will def be awesome...

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  26. sounds terrific!!. Never cooked with green channa before.Being a south indian i am never short of recipes but I am always trying to collect recipes that would go well with rotis and parathas... will try it some time.

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  27. superb recipe...you make me hungry

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  28. That looks spicy and delicious..

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  29. thanks trendsetters,
    Lassi, I am sure u will like this too but it has very soft and subtle flavour unlike the flambeed.
    Thanks Gulmohar, I really appreciate u saying that.I am sure u will get the dry green chana.
    Thanks Ashaji, the combo tastes good.
    Ushnishda, thanks so much, I am glad u liked the write up. Yes, chana is almost gone now.

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  30. Surely Sushma will show my collection in one of the posts.
    PJ, I think that's the first book all Maharashtrian girls get post marriage.It's like a bible for Maharashtrian cooking.Thanks, I am glad u liked the post and the recipe.
    Jeyashri, relax dear, no worries, if u can participate I will be very glad but do not take any load. Family and responsibilities come first.
    Thanks Nandini, I am sure you will love this with Chapati.

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  31. Mughlai food tickles my tastes buds pink....or rather deep orangey red and i so love this delicious recipe u have here....yummyluscious good and would love to dig in right away with some indian ''phulkas',flat bread ie....

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  32. wow!really tempting click!
    luks so tasty.I'm eager 2 giv this a try.

    n thank u dear he he

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  33. i jus left in a note here,did it go thru ......

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  34. Ohh i am becoming almost a maniac in collecting those books and with prints, whole one cupboard in my kitchen is now full of prints of recipes i took while surfing on internet and lots of books from tarla Dalal and Sanjeev kapoor.
    Funny thing is that now when i want to search a recipe, it's so difficult to dig that hip that i end up with some more prints, i seriously gotta organize them :(

    This recipe looks nice, easy and delicious, got to try it :)
    So here goes one more Print :D

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  35. Yummy curry....just love ur stepwise clicks.write up as well :).

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  36. That is so mouthwatering, Pari!I love the gravy type curries..

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  37. Looks rich and creamy....

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  38. New and different combo! I have never tried making mughlai dishes at home, i got to get some books and start soon!

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  39. we eat a lot of soy chunks and this recipe looks truly tempting. I like the idea of soaking soy in milk. richness from the word Go. lovely dish and great presentation

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  40. Very unique combination but look delicious.

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  41. Wow thats a wonderful recipe.... Lovely color and such a new dish for me... Making me drool over the pic!!!

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  42. Very delicious and rich gravy!

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  43. Gravy looks so rich and bright in color, loved it dear!!!

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  44. We have similar habit, collecting recipes and my cabinet are choked with this. Love this muglai curry, looks so flavorful and beautiful pic too.....

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  45. never tried this chana..luks yummy:)

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  46. I started collecting recipes from 10th class. It's countless and fills up ¼th of the house.

    Plus the salan is spicy and hot! It's lovely and I'm dying to taste it.

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  47. Looks very yummy and nice in taste !!

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  48. tsssssssssss..what a mouth watreing, lip smacking, delicious and yummylicious click..too good Pari...I wish i could help my self to this..looks so perfect..

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  49. mmmm..this looks great again..interesting recipe..use of green chana..its available right now at my place too but I guess now its the end of the season is it?

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  50. Yummm...I so enjoy seeing what you're cooking. It sounds so good and looks delicious! I am not a big fan of soya chunks, but I so like the other ingredients, that I would gladly accept a nice sample of this.

    I love cookbooks too! I think I have more than our local library, grins.

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  51. wow very tempting dish...yummm...lovely one

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  52. wow i'm always looking for variations on chaat and love black channa- what a great idea!

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