Channa Kulambu

Kuzhambu recipes, South Indian Lunch recipes

Channa kulambu prepared using small black chickpeas was one of the few curries I liked to relish during my childhood days. In those days my mother never used large white chickpeas, perhaps it was available only in specific places. Nowadays I switch to large white chickpeas for their soft, melt-in-mouth texture and prepare even more delicious channa kulambu. I like to prepare chettinad style aromatic channa kulambu using white chickpeas, drumstick pods & eggplants (brinjal) to savour the beautiful aroma of drumsticks & the delicious flavor of channa.

channa-scaled Channa Kulambu
Chickpeas (channa)

Earlier we were served tangy konda kadalai kulambu along with rice, mashed spinach (kadaintha arai keerai), yogurt based mixed vegetables curry (avial) and scrambled potato (urulai kizhangu puttu) for lunch. But I like to serve channa kulambu to my family with creamy avial made using red chillies, scrambled sweet potato (sakkaravalli kizhangu podimas) and crispy tapioca appalam as shown below.

ck-1-scaled Channa Kulambu
Meals with channa kulambu, aviyal & seeni kizhangu puttu

Chettinad style channa kulambu goes very well with any millet or traditional rice variety particularly with red rice (mappillai samba arisi).

ck-2-scaled Channa Kulambu
Mapillai samba sadam with konda kadalai kuzhambu

Channa Kulambu recipe:

ck-6-scaled Channa Kulambu
Channa Kulambu

Ingredients:

Main ingredients:
Cooked white chickpeas (Kabuli channa)1/2 cup
Drumstick1
Brinjal (eggplants)2
Tamarinda small lemon sized ball
Salt1 tsp
ck-5-scaled Channa Kulambu
For kulambu masala:
Sesame oil (for roasting the spices)1 tsp
Red chillies4
Coriander seeds (dhania)1 tablespoon
Pepper1/2 tsp
Poppy seeds (khus khus)1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds (sombu)1/4 tsp
Cinnamon (pattai)1/2″
Cardamom (yelam)1
Ginger (inji)1″
Garlic (poondu)6 pods
ck-3-scaled Channa Kulambu
For tempering:
Sesame oil (nallennai)1 tsp
Cumin seeds1/2 tsp
Bay leaf1
Curry leavesa few
Asafoetida (hing) powder1/8 tsp (a pinch)
ck-4-scaled Channa Kulambu

Kulambu Masala:

  • Heat a pan with 1/2 tsp of sesame oil in medium flame.
  • Roast all the ingredients for masala except ginger & garlic.
  • Remove them from pan when the aroma is released.
  • Add 1/2 tsp of oil into the pan and saute ginger & garlic until done.
  • Grind them into a smooth paste after adding little water as shown below.
kulambu-masala Channa Kulambu
Chettinad style kuzhambu masala

Channa Kulambu:

  • Microwave tamarind after adding 100 ml of water for 1 min. (or soak in hot water for 15 min.)
  • Make tamarind juice using about 700 ml of water and keep aside.
  • Heat a pan with oil in medium flame.
  • Add cumin seeds, bay leaf, curry leaves into the pan and fry for few seconds.
  • Add asafoetida powder followed by chopped drumsticks & brinjal.
  • Saute for few minutes until the flavor from drumsticks is released.
  • Add tamarind extract and kulambu masala into the pan.
  • Bring it to a boil at high flame.
  • Reduce the flame to medium until the vegetables are cooked.
  • Add cooked channa while vegetables are half cooked.
  • Add salt when the vegetables become soft & tender.
  • Now reduce the flame to low and cover the pan with its lid allowing kulambu enriched with flavors of spices & drumsticks.
  • Remove from heat when it reaches the required consistency.
  • Serve hot with rice, soft idli, or spongy dosa.
channa-kulambu Channa Kulambu
Channa Kulambu recipe

Tips & Tweaks:

Here I used wrinkled Byadagi chillies for the bright red color & intense aroma, but you may use other chillies according to the desired heat & color, Salem gundu milagai are famous for blistering heat, whereas Guntur long chillies are for both the color & heat.

South-Indian-chillies Channa Kulambu
South Indian chilli varieties

122 comments on “Channa Kulambu”Add yours →

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  1. Diese kleine Schüssel mit der frischen und gesunden Suppe Channa Kolumbo sieht sehr appetitlich aus. Wenn es draußen kalt und frostig ist, wärmt sie bestimmt ganz wunderbar den Magen.
    Viele Grüße aus Deutschland…von Rosie

    1. I’m glad you liked this south Indian preparation. Thanks for reading this post.

  4. I absolutely love kabuli chana, but I mostly use it to make chana masala or sundal only. Channa Kulambu is new to me. It looks so good! I’m surely going to try this out soon.

  7. I likelall your serving suggestions of accompanying kadalai kulambu along with rice mashed spinach, yogurt vegetables curry and scrambled potato. It would make for a wonderful eating experience and also I just love chickoeas. ???????
    Marina

  10. We were both thinking of chana this week! Happy to have another recipe. thanks for sharing.

    1. Pleasure is always mine. 🙂
      I’m sorry for the late reply as I missed to notice your comment.

  13. It seems like such a simple dish, yet the spices are incredibly complex. I would have never guessed there were poppy seeds in there! I’ll have to try this blend.

  14. This looks delicious! it will be a little challenging because the ingredients may not easy to be found here… However, I am still trying it! I am experimental. haha!

    1. Oh, nice to hear this. You can very well try with any curry powder available with you. ?
      Thank you.

      2. Hello Megala, I used the curry powder I got from a Vietnamese shop. It was very good! I am going to try another type of curry – curry bar from Japan. ^^

  15. Channa recipe reminds me of Ganesh chaturthi… My grand mother used to prepare this dish and distribute all over her street.
    Delicious one..

    1. Oh, nice! Your grand mother must be an amazing person and a talented cook.
      Thank you.

    1. Of course not. 🙂 Thank you!
      Sorry for the late reply, I missed to notice your comment.

  23. Woww the dish sounds fantastic !! Love this proteinrich dish ❤️ and looks hard to stop eating this ??
    Hope ur Sunday ll be fantastic ?

    1. Yes, do try, you will definitely enjoy the drumstick flavored channa curry. 🙂 Thank you.

  32. Sounds good! I too remember that way back in those days, channa was black mooku kadalai only. Kabuli channa came much later. Please share how you prepared the red rice too.

    1. Yes, I remember my grand mother describing white chickpeas gaseous for her.
      Red rice takes little longer than normal rice, so it is better to soak them for an hour before cooking. I feel it is better to avoid pressure cooking, as the rice turns stickier.
      Thanks much for reading this post.

    1. Yes, we all learn recipes around the globe through WordPress. 🙂 Thanks Radhika for your constant support.

  44. This recipe is new to me , looks so delicious and colorful .I’m sure the flavors of drumstick, garbanzo and other ingredients must make it taste out of the world.

    1. Hi, how are you? Its been quite a long time, hope you are doing good. 🙂
      Thank you so much for stopping by.

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