Konkani food is usually based around coconut. We make a variety of dishes with it. Though the masala which we use is almost same, there is a remarkable difference in taste from one dish to the other. I usually prepare two-three stapled side dishes like Mooga randayi(also called as Mooga ambat), dudde randayi and few others which I would be posting in coming days. I had forgotten about the others, but thanks to “aayisrecipes”, I am learning most of them now.
One such delicious recipe is, ‘Chana ghashi’. Madhura sent me this recipe as well as the picture. I have tasted it many times when I was a kid and it has amazing taste. I am surprised at the way our older generations used almost all the vegetables and the whole grains in their cooking. Thanks Madhura for the recipe and the picture :D.
Ingredients:
Kala Chana(small black chickpea) 1 Cup
Grated coconut 1/2 Cup
Curry leaves 1 strand
Hing(Asafoetida) a pinch
Mustard seeds 1 tea spn
Red chillies 6-7
Tamarind
Raw banana(plantain) 1 ( cut into square pieces)
Oil 1 tea spn
Salt
Method:
Soak kala chana overnight. Next day pressure cook it (4 wistles). Grind together coconut, tamarind and red chillies. Cook the raw banana with a little salt seperately in a different vessel, as the raw banana cooks fast. Now in a vessel pour the ground masala, add the boiled chana , banana. Add salt and give it a boil for 5 to 7 mins, remove from heat. Heat oil, add mustard seeds, when they start popping, add curry leaves and asafoetida and season the curry. Serve as a side dish with rice.
Serves : 3
Preparation time : 30min (Including the cooking time)
Hi Shilpa ….Thanks to you posting the recipe. We use yam (suran) a lot, raw banana is new to me in chana ghasi. Maybe here since fresh yam is not available, raw banana is used. In south kanara we never use the word ambat. The curries are called randayi, ghassi, sukke, kodDele, gajabage, valvale, bhate etc…..Regards
I realy love konkani recipes It’s to tasty
Thanks for that comment Aruna. I am totally confused about the names of the dishes. Though SK and NK have same set of dishes, all the names are different. Koddel, valvale, bhate etc are unknown to me, as I am from NK :(.
Sounds nice. will try it.
Hey Shilpa,
We make channa gashi the same way except we don’t use hing. rest same. Try same with suran pieces. Yummy. Try with garbanzos if you don’t get kala channa.
Also, Aruna. I am from south kanara,too. We do have curries called ambat. Mostly a medley of vegetables cooked with toor dal, add the coconut+tamarind_red chillies ‘masol’ and then tadka with either finely chopped onions or mustard+kadipatta.
Shilpa …Forgot to mention that in case the red chills are fried/roasted in a tsp of oil, the chills blend well in the masol.
Vee …Thanks for the update. I had never heard the word “ambat”. My relatives are scattered all over the place, but whenever visited them over lunch or dinner or maybe in the temples too, never heard of the word.
Hi Shilpa,
I do make chana masala but i have to try it by adding coconut next time.
Jaggery tips post is very informative.
Vineela
Strange that you can’t find kala channa – it’s readily available here in northern California. I like its flavor quite a bit, and can’t wait to try this recipe. Are the “raw” bananas really green, or just regular yellow bananas?
Perhaps there’s a mail order source you could look into? Failing that, if you live in the US, e-mail me and I’d be happy to send you a bag.
We too make a lot of curries with plenty of coconut…we do make channa with raw banana and coconut added and is called as ‘koottu curry’ but with the difference that we dont add tamarind…Thanks for sharing the recipe…
The banana’s used in this are Raw green banana’s(Harwe kelle), not the eating yellow banana’s.
Mayar, Vee, Vineela, shynee thanks :).
Diane, I found the kala channa here. I guess I had seen in the wrong place. Thanks a lot for the offer. I hope you read Madhura’s comment above.
Thanks Madhura! I bought green bananas today and will be making this dish this weekend.
Shilpa: Glad to hear of your success in finding the kala channa!
Another famous version of this Ghasshi is to add raw jackfruit along with kala chana…
The “Chitrapur Saraswats’ make an “Ambat” . The only difference between Ghashi and Ambat is the use of Methi seeds instead of the Coriander seeds. The methi seeds are fried and groung with the masolu. Their Ghasshi recipe differs depending upon whether it is vegetanble ghasshi or dhanya (seeds-sprouted or otherwise) ghasshi or sweet Ghasshi like Raw amango or karathe Ghasshi.
Shilpa’s recipe is the same as what we call Koddel.
shilpa,i make chana-ghashi frequently(since iam a M’lorean GSB).we add 3/4 tsp. of methi seeds(fried in a little oil) while making the masol.it tastes very good. Also, ‘ kadgi’is an excellent combination with chana… suran &potatoes also are good.btw the chana ghashi made in temples is too good… any idea how they make it?
Hi Shilpa,
My mum makes a bharta with a baingan type of vegetable called “guLLa”. The guLLa is first roasted on the fire so that the skin becomes black and then the skin is removed. The flesh is mashed. She puts the coconut masolu and cooks it. Finally, raw onion and ginger are put as a garnish. It’s really really tasty.
Hey Shilpa,
Since its Ganesh Chaturthi I made some Chana Ghashi yesterday and got a tip from my Mom to make it more delicious. Fry about 1/4th tsp of Methi seeds in coconut oil and add to the masala while grinding, it gives a wonderful aroma to the Ghashi…
Shilpa
I am in soo love with your blog..I have cooked so many dishes seeing your recipes with some additions/innovations of my own..So far all the recipes that I have tried have come out perfect. Thanks a lot! you are true inspiration!
Hi Shilpa….looking for soyi bajjile… Chana gassi….pl help with the recipe…. TIA
Sangeeta, From my understanding, the recipe is same as this chakko chane ghasi, the only difference is coconut is roasted.
Any alternative to using mustard seeds?will it taste fine if I skip them?
I can’t think of a good alternative. Mustard seeds are normally used in almost all seasonings, which gives the freshness to the dish. Leave it out if you don’t have it.
Even though there are hundreds of konkani blogs out there, I come back to yours coz it is authentic north canara preparation just the way my mom makes it. I was looking for this exact recipe with raw banana. Thank you.