Black Chickpeas and Ivy Gourd Fugadh

Nutty black chickpeas cooked in spicy gravy; accompanied by the sweetish Ivy gourd and gently tempered with coconut and jaggery. This is one dish that is close to my heart, the one that takes me back to my childhood every single time, with the taste still lingering in my memory forever.

Though my mum makes this dish often, she confesses to learning it from her mother.  My dear grandmother at whose place I’ve spent many a happy holidays. Even to date, whenever my mum gets black chickpeas; I know for sure what’s on the menu. Every step of the recipe is magical, right from the moment when the chickpeas are pressure cooked to when the masalas are being sautéed and then finally the coconut garnish; food porn if I could call it that. And that’s not all, there is a bit of tradition involved as well.  The 8^th of September, is a special day; where Christians celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day, the menu is special and is called ‘Noven Jowaan’ roughly translated to ‘new meal’; the new signifying that the meal has been prepared from the new harvest as a thanksgiving to the almighty for his graces. The dishes are prepared in series of odd numbers and this one definitely makes it to that spread. 

Somehow, very honestly, I had long wanted to post this but somehow didn't get to do it. It was the only the other day when I headed to a meeting outside office and had to eat a restaurant. I ordered this one and believe me, the beauty of the dish had been massacred. Seriously, nothing pains me more than Manglorean food gone wrong. I decided to come home and  get it done. 

So then, here is a family recipe. Like its made at my home. Try it, garnish it with spices, temper it with coconut and serve it love. My family loves it, I'm sure yours would too.

Black Chickpeas and Ivy Gourd Fugadh

Ingredients:

• 200 grams, black chickpeas, refer cooking instructions below in the procedure
• 100 grams, Ivy gourd, cut length wise
• 50 grams fresh coconut, grated
• 50 grams jaggery, roughly chopped
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 5-8 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons corriander seeds
• 1 tablespoons, black pepper corns
• 1 tablespoon, cummin seeds
• 1 teaspoon, mustard seeds
• 7-8 Whole red chillies
• 1 small teaspoon, turmeric powder
• 1 Sprig Curry leaves
• 3 tablespoons oil
• Salt to taste
• 300 ml water

Procedure:

• Soak the black chickpeas in 300 ml water overnight or atleast 6-8 hours. Wash them under running water till water runs clear.
• After washing, pressure cook for about 15 minutes or till you hear about 3 whistles. Retain the water if you wish to have some gravy
• Dry roast the corriander seeds, pepper corns, cummin seeds, and red chillies till they give out a nice aroma. Once done, cool for a while and then, grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan, add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. Wait till the seeds splutter.
• Add the garlic and let it . Then add the onions and saute till the onions turns translucent.
• Now, add the coconut, turmeric and the powder. Saute, till the oil has started leaving the sides
• Now, add the chickpeas and the Ivy gourd and mix well.
• Add the salt, jaggery and tomatoes and give it a good mix. Cover and cook for about 7 minutes.
• If required, add some water from the boiled chickpeas.
• Serve hot with rice or chapattis.

Bunt Style Chicken Sukkha (Authentic Manglorean Style Recipe)

If there was one cuisine that I would have for the rest of my life, without a doubt, it would be Mangalorean. I am not being partial since I am from Mangalore, but come on, as they home is where the heart is.

Here is another recipe from one of Mangalore’s famous sub- cuisines, called the “Bunt Cuisine”.  The Bunts are a trading community primarily from the Udupi and Dakshin Kanada districts of Karnataka credited with being the pioneers of the ubiquitous Udupi hotels in Mumbai.  As you would have guessed by now, their cuisine is to die for.

This is one recipe that I would have eaten it a zillion times and yet, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mum makes it in the most awesome manner and I tried it for the first time. As the pictures below will tell you, it was lip- smacking.  The mandate (from the taste queens) when I made it was to go easy on the spice, which I tried my best to do. You could replace the chicken with mutton and get the same result.

Do give it a try, I am sure you will want to make it again and again 

Bunt Style Chicken Sukkha

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg Chicken (on the bone)
• 2 Onions (Medium Sized, finely chopped)
• 1 Tomato (Large Sized, Finely chopped)
• 2 Green Chillies, Cut into 2 parts
• 2 Tablespoon Garlic Paste
• 1 Tablespoon ginger paste
• 4 Tablespoons Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Bafat Masala
• 1 Tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
• 3 Sprigs of Curry Leaves 
• Salt- to taste

Grind to a coarse paste

• 1 Coconut Grated
• 7-10 Red Chillies
• 1 Tablespoon Cummin Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
• 2 Green Cardamoms
• 8-10 Peppercorns
• 1/2 cup Cashewnuts
• 3 Cloves
• 1 Inch stick of Cinnamon

Procedure:

• Grind together all the ingredients mentioned under the head "grind to a coarse paste". The texture has to be coarse but make sure ingredients have integrated well with the coconut. Add a little water when you are grinding.
• In a pan, add oil and let it come to its smoking point. Once it does, add the curry leaves.
• When the curry leaves begin to change colour, add the onions and allow them to caramelise. This is an important step so let the onions cook well.
• Add in the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a while.Once the smell leaves, add in tomatoes and cook till tomatoes turn soft.
• Add the coconut paste and stir well. You may need to add some water at this point so that the paste doesn’t stick to the base of the pan. Cook till the oil leaves the sides of the pan.
• When the oil begins to leave the sides add the green chillies, bafat, powder, red chilli powder and stir well.  Keep a watch that the paste is not getting to dry and judiciously add water.
• Once the masala’s are mixed well add the chicken and salt.
• Cover and cook over a medium flame. Should be done in about 15-20 minutes