Curried Chickpeas or Kadalakari is a dish from Kerala. It is a spicy coconut based curry very close to the heart of the Malayali. It is made with the darker and smaller variety of chickpeas. Curried Chickpeas or Kadalakari is typically served with Puttu, a steamed rice and coconut dish, for breakfast. It can also be eaten with rice.
CURRIED CHICKPEAS/ KADALA KARI
The most common way of cooking Kadalakari is in a spicy coconut gravy much like this. There is also a simpler version cooked without coconut. I came across a third version cooked with coconut and tomatoes. I first came across the recipe in Lathika George’s The Suriani Kitchen Cookbook.
Let me start at the beginning with this story. It began when I first met Lathika George a couple of years back at the annual Goa Literary and Arts Festival. Then I met her again in Kochi last year at the Muziris Biennale. She was then working on the second edition of her cookbook, The Suriani Kitchen, a collection of traditional recipes from her community.
Lathika wanted to redo some of the food photographs in her cookbook asked me to shoot them. That’s when I saw her cookbook for the first time. As I was going through it, I came across her Curried Chickpeas or Kadalakari recipe. I had never eaten or seen this dish cooked with tomatoes in it. Apparently, it is not all that uncommon to do so. Her recipe is also different from mine in the spices used in it. My version also uses, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom in the spice-coconut mix.
BROWN CHICKPEAS
So today I’m sharing Lathika’s Curried Chickpeas recipe. The new edition of Lathika’s Suriani Kitchen was published by Penguin Random House late last year. Lathika has been kind enough to give away a copy of the latest edition of The Suriani Kitchen. More about that a little further down.
Kerala is a state that is home to many different communities that are distinct in their culture, traditions, rituals and cuisines yet live together in harmony. The Suriani Christians (or Syrian Christians or Nazranis or followers of Jesus of Nazareth) are one among them.
They trace their origins to St. Thomas the Apostle who is believed to have arrived in Kerala in AD52. Over time, they have absorbed Jewish and Syrian influences in their distinctive cuisine, though the Suriani Christian cuisine is deeply rooted in Kerala. Lathika George’s cookbook is full of recipes that are typical of her Suriani Christian Community. A good chunk of the recipes are naturally non-vegetarian. There are lots of vegetarian recipes including snacks, sweets and Sadya staples of Kerala.
The Giveaway :
As I mention earlier, I’m giving away a copy of the new edition of Lathika George’s cookbook, The Suriani Kitchen.
If you would like to to try your luck at winning that copy, please leave a comment on this post. In your comment tell me what your favourite vegetarian dish from Kerala is and why you like it so much. The giveaway is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike. You must however live in India or have an Indian shipping addresses.
This Giveaway is open till the 15th of February, 2018. I will pick one random commenter to receive the cookbook, once the giveaway is closed.
Here are a couple of the images I shot for The Suriani Kitchen.
AN ASSORTMENT OF PICKLES
ELA ADA/ STEAMED BANANA LEAF CAKES
This recipe for Curried Chickpeas or Kadala Kari is reproduced below with Lathika’s permission. The recipes in Lathika’s book seem to have been written with an international audience in mind. When I cooked the recipe below, I did some things differently because that is how I cook in my Indian kitchen. For this recipe, she suggests toasting the coconut in an oven. I do it on the stove-top as is traditionally done in Kerala.
Her recipe also calls for adding the soaked chickpeas to the curry towards athe end and cooking it till done. This probably gives a more flavourful dish as the chickpeas absorb the flavours while cooking. I prefer to pressure cook my chickpeas till done and then add them to the curry, and let them simmer for a shorter time on the stove top, about 15 to 20 minutes. Otherwise I have stayed true to the recipe.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 servings | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 45 minutes | 10 hours |
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Popular Kerala style Curried Chickpeas or Kadala Kari made with brown chickpeas cooked with spices, tomatoes and coconut.
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- 1/2 cup grated fresh coconut
- 6 whole peppercorns
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 green chillies slit
- 6 curry leaves
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- cup ½chopped tomato
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 6 cups to 8water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas pre-soaked in water overnight
- Spread the grated coconut on a baking sheet and roast till lightly toasted. With a mortar and pestle or food processor, grind the toasted coconut with the peppercorns and 1/2 cup water to a coarse paste. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a deep pot and add the mustard seeds. When they burst, add the onions and fry for 1 to 2 minutes until soft and transparent.
- Add the green chillies, curry leaves, and ginger and garlic pastes and fry for a minute, Then add the chopped tomatoes. Stir-fry for one more minute, until the tomatoes are soft. Add the chilli powder, coriander and turmeric and stir-fry till the oil rises to the top.
- Add the ground coconut paste and continue stirring for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the water, salt, soaked chickpeas. Stir, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the gravy has thickened and the chickpeas are tender.
I'm Aparna and My Diverse Kitchen is my ovo-lacto vegetarian food blog where you'll find recipes, food stories & photography. I've been blogging since 2007 and believe the kitchen, and the dining table (by extension) is really the heart of a home. 
Of all the Kerala dishes, I love puttu…the reason being, it is steamed, healthy and no oil!
Being a true blooded Mallu (and a Suriani too), it would be so hard to pick to just one vegetarian dish. But I can safely say that ‘avial’ is the best vegetarian dish I have ever eaten in my life. A medley of the most delightful vegetables in the creamy coconuty gravy is simply to die for!
My favorite kerala dish is ada prathaman……..
My favourite is pineapple pachadi and koottukari.
I like the sweet and sour taste of pineappke pachadi and the fried coconut tastes yummy in kootukari
Lovely pictures Aparna! At my home we make kadalakari wtih tomato and not much spices, just coriander and chili and we use small onions. My favourite Kerala dish is our puzhukku with carrot , kaya and beans with mix of coconut jeera, green chilli and curryleaf, it is a comfort food at its best!
My favorite is aviyal
My favourite vegetarian dish from Kerala is definitely the kootu curry that makes its presence felt in all sadyas these days.
Avial – the only way I used to eat vegetables as a teen! The hint of jeera in the coconut-shallot-green chilli mix adds the right lilt to this delicately nuanced vegetable dish… and, finding sour and soft mango slices in the dish is simply a slice of heaven!
Being a keralite who grew up in Pune, the only reference I have to Kerala food is my mother’s cooking. My mother like all mother’s is a great cook and ittough to chose my favourite. However I love Avial. It is an art to make good Avial and I am no where even close to mastering it. The perfectly cut vegetables with right amount of coconut and dash of coconut oil is my comfort food.
My favourite (one of) Kerala dish is “Avial” ( mixed vegetables curry). It is less spicy & has all the flavors of different vegetables..☺
I make the kadala curry same way! But grind tomatoes as well, as my little one hates tomato pieces! And toast coconut on stove top. I love everything from Kerala and cook many dishes! I love ela Ada !
My favourite vegetarian dish from kerala is aviyal . It not only tastes good but is also nutritious with the vegetables cooked and added to coconut-curd paste.
There are so many to pick Aparna. But, my favorite will always be Chakka Pradhaman. I love jackfruit and that dish just incorporates the essence of Jackfruit so well.
Given any day, my favorite kerala dish is Moru kachiyathu.. Has been my savior for the days when I would wake up late for work and had to whip up a lunch.. uplifts the flavors of any side dish.. Friendly on my stomach.. Would never get bored!!
I love Mambazha Pulissery a lot. First reason is I am a big fan of all mango dishes. I could never imagine that a tasty curry like this can be made using a ripe fruit. The balance of flavours is just amazing. Sweet, sour and spicy gravy can be paired with anything.. plain rice, dosas, appams or neer dosas. Can’t wait for the mango season to make and relish it again.
I have never tasted kadala kari and puttu so far. will surely try it sometime soon. Bookmarking the recipe.
I do use tomatoes in my kadala curry but this recipe is fairly new! Isn’t it wonderful how the same curry takes different avatars when it goes from one district to another! I really wouldn’t mind winning this book again… I have the Malayalam version, and not reading the language is making me feel really jittery with the book… hehe… and especially if there are more pictures shot by you, I am sure it would be a masterpiece!
Such a gorgeous picture of the kadala curry! Love the recipe and will surely try it out some time.
My favourite vegetarian dish from Kerala has got to be appams and kadala curry. I love a well made platter of appams, fluffy, slightly sweet, slightly sour. The kadala curry has to be ever so slightly runny and not very spicy. Then, I’m in foodie heaven. 🙂
I’d love to own a copy of this beautiful cookbook. Please enter me in the giveaway.
Love love love Avial..what a delicious way to eat veggies!! I love the mild sweetness the coconut adds, the mild heat from the chilli and the ever so slightly tang the yougurt lends to the dish..
Hi, thank you for the giveaway. My favourite vegetarian dish from Kerala would be Olan, love it’s mild flavoured taste of coconut milk & subtle spices.