This South Indian Coconut Chickpea Curry is a spicy and super delicious curry made with white chickpeas, coconut and spices. A vegan dish.
In this recipe the real flavor comes from the coconut and whole spices. You can actually get a distinct taste of coconut. There is a subtle sweetness and this channa masala is not sour or tangy.
This spicy coconut chickpea curry goes well with rice, roti, paratha or poori. It can even go very well with bhature (leavened fried breads). If you are fond of chole bhature then you can consider serving it with the homemade bhatura.
I make varieties of home. My all-time favorite Is this authentic and flavorsome Punjabi Chana masla. The recipe gives a good balance of spiciness, taste and flavor. It tastes like the chickpea curry you get in the streets of Delhi and Punjab.
The recipe posted here is a South Indian version of chickpea curry with coconut. So as the name suggests, This curry has South Indian flavors and taste awesome. basically in this recipe, all the ingredients which are commonly used in South Indian cooking are added, with grated coconut being one of the main ingredients.
In the Punjabi style or North Indian version, onions, tomatoes, spices and dry pomegranate seeds or dry mango powder, make the masala paste and give a spicy and slightly sour taste to the curry. Apart from the above ingredients, garam masala powder or chana masala powder is also added.
I make this recipe, with mildly hot 2 red chilies for a low spiced version at times. And on occasions, I add 4 dry red chilies to make it spicy. So you can vary the amount of red chilies as per your taste, spice preference and the quality of red chilies.
The same recipe can also be made with black chickpeas, potato or green peas.
Serve this coconut chickpea curry hot with chapati or puri or naan bread or kulcha or plain paratha or lachha paratha or bhatura or aloo paratha or bread or steamed rice accompanied with lemon and onion slices.
How to make coconut chickpea curry
A) cooking chickpeas or chana
1. First rinse 1 cup dried chickpeas for a couple of times in water. Then soak the chickpeas in enough water overnight or for 8 to 9 hours. Below is a photo of soaked chickpeas
2. Drain the water. Rinse the chickpeas again a couple of times.
3. Again drain and add the soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker.
4. Add ½ tsp salt.
