As I promised, here you go, the recipe for yummy Madurai road side chalna!
If you are from Tamilnadu, you will know what chalna is :). Chalna is a yummy gravy that goes with roti, paratha, dosa and even with rice. In Madurai, there is a famous restaurant called “suppu kadai” and “pichu potta parrotta” is my all time favorite. When you get a chance to visit madurai, do not miss it!
To make chalna, you need to make the masala first. Take a pan, add oil and when hot add cumin seeds, fennel seeds and cashew nuts. Now add onion shallots, green chillies, ginger garlic paste, tomatos and curry leaves one by one. Give a stir frequently, so that the masala doesn’t get burnt. Now add coconut and poppy seeds. When all cooked, transfer the mixture to a blender and make it to a fine paste.
Keep the blended paste aside. Take a pan and add oil. When hot add cinnamon stick, star ansie, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, green chilli and curry leaves. Now add onion and cook until golden yellow. Add salt to cook soon. Add ginger garlic paste and tomatoes, cook it with pan closed.
Chicken is optional. If you don’t eat chicken, you can make plain chalna or you can add mixed vegetables or potatoes. I am adding chicken and my family loves it with parotta. Add chicken and cook it until chicken it well by closing the pan. Now when chicken or vegetables are cooked well, add the blended paste and allow it to cook until you see the oil floats. Add salt as per the paste. Finally garnish with cilantros. You can also add mint leaves (optional). Chalna is ready to be served!
Step by Step:
Ingredients
- Onion – 1 medium
- Green Chilli – 2-3
- Tomato – 1 small
- Oil- 3/4 cup
- Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 TBSP
- Chicken- 1.5 lbs (Optional)
- Cinnamon – 1/2 inch stick
- Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
- Coriander Powder – 1 tbsp
- Cumin powder – 1 tbsp
- Garam Masala – 1/2 tbsp
- Cumin seeds – 1/4 tbsp
- curry leaves – 1 strings
- Cilantro – handfull
- For Masala:
- Onion Shallots – 10-12
- Tomato – 1 small
- Coconut- 6-7 pieces
- Cashew Nuts – 4-5
- Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 TBSP
- Poppy Seed – 1/2 tsp
- Cumin seeds – 1/4 tbsp
- Fennel seeds – 1/2 tbsp
- Curry leaves – 1 strings
Masala Preparation:
- Add oil to the pan. When hot, add cumin seeds, fennel seeds and cashew nuts.
- When cashew nuts turns slight brown, add green chillies and onion shallots.
- When onion shallots turns golden yellow, add ginger garlic paste and stir until the raw smell goes away.
- Now add tomatoes and cook it for few minutes. When tomatoes are cooked, add coconut and poppy seeds.
- Finally add a string of curry leaves and transfer the mixture to the blender.
- When the masala gets warm/room temperature, blend it to a fine paste and keep it aside.
Chalna Preparation:
- Add oil to the pan. When hot add cinnamon sticks, star ansie, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, green chilli and curry leaves.
- When above gets cooked, add onion and cook it until onions turns golden yellow. Add salt as required. Salt will help cook faster.
- Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, cumin, garam masala, red chilli and coriander powder to onion and give a nice stir.
- When the raw smell goes away, add tomatoes. Close the lid and cook until tomatoes gets mushy.
- Now add chicken or vegetables and cook nicely by closing the pan. This STEP is OPTIONAL. You can skip it to keep it as plain chalna.
- Now add the blended mixture and cook until oil floats on top.
- Adjust salt as required.
- Garnish with cilantro and Chalna is ready to be served.
