CHENNA MASALA | Sidedish for Puri, Chappathi, Idiyappam

This aromatic Chenna Masala is prepared using Onion gravy & Tomato gravy with a secret masala  formula, which tastes similar to restaurant style Chenna Masala. The recipe video is added in Vedai Cuisine YouTube Channel. this recipe is explained in  detail with step by step procedure.  

CHENNA MASALA

INGREDIENTS:- 

Dry Spices

Secret Masala

Onion  = 2 nos.

Tomato = 3 nos.

Ginger = 1 inch

Garlic pods = 8 to 10.

Chenna Dal - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Methi leaves powder - 1 tsp  

Jaggery powder / brown coloured sugar - 1 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

Ghee - 2 tsp

DRY SPICES:-

• 1 tsp cumin seeds 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 1 marathi moggu 
• 1 black stone flower/kalpasu
• 1 cardamom
• 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
• 3 dried red chillies

SECRET MASALA:-

• 1.5 tsp of coriander powder
• 1 tsp of garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp of red chilly powder
• 1/8 tsp of turmeric powder 

METHOD TO PREPARE:-

1.  Finely chop 1/2 onion, 5 garlic pods and 1/2 inch ginger.

2.  Add the remaining  ginger, garlic and 1 & 1/2 big onions to a  mixer jar to make a fine paste using little water. Set aside.

onion gravy

3.  Heat a pressure cooker using 3 tbsp oil & 1 tsp ghee ( or add unsalted butter ), add cumin seeds. 

4.  Keep in sim flame and add the dry spices ingredients. Sauté till aroma arises.

sauté dry spices 

5. Add finely chopped (mentioned in step 1), ginger-garlic, fry till they change it to golden brown in color.

Finely chopped Ginger Garlic added

6. Add secret masala to it. Stir continuously to avoid burnt.

7. Add finely chopped onions ( mentioned in step 1), sauté for a minute and add onion gravy.

8. Cover the pressure cooker with lid for 5 minutes and cook in low flame. In the meantime, let us prepare the tomato gravy.

9. To prepare the tomato gravy, first grind red chillies and badam/cashews to a coarse mix. Now add the roughly chopped tomatoes and grind it.

    

10. Uncover the lid. Onions gravy with spices and masalas are cooked. 

11. Add required salt. I added crystal salt.

12. Now add the tomato gravy to the pressure cooker.

13. Mix well and cover with lid for 3 minutes. 

14.  Uncover the lid; the gravy oozes the oil added. check for salt and spice. if spice required add red chilly powder or black pepper powder. 

15. Now add the soaked and cleaned channa dal to the gravy. we are going to cook the soaked chenna dal in masala gravy. 

16. Mix well. Add 1 tsp ghee. Cover with lid for 30 seconds.

17.  Add 2 cups of water. ( use the same cup, which is measured before soaking). 

18. Add crushed methi leaves and jaggery powder. Also, 1 tsp of butter can be added.

19.  Cover with lid. Pressure cook for 3 whistles in high flame and 15 minutes in low/ sim flame, irrespective of the whistles.  

20. Allow the pressure to release. Transfer it to  serving bowl. Aromatic Chenna Masala is ready to serve. 

For  Recipe Video, Click the link == > Chenna Masala Recipe Video

TIPS :-

• add 10 mint leaves, 1 tbsp coriander leqaves before adding  the secret masala. this avoids burnt, if unattended. 
• for  this gravy, i used country tomato.
• for 1 tomato, 1 dried red chilly to be used. for 3 medium sized tomatoes, 3 dried red chillies were used.
• in the secret masala list, i used 1/4 tsp of  kashmiri  red chilly powder to give colorful look to the gravy.

IDYAPPAM UPPUMA

INGREDIENTS:

Stamed Idyappam - 1 bowl
Red chilly -2
Green chilly - 2
Onion - 2
Lemon - 1/2 
Salt

 For Seasoning
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram - 1/2 tsp
Cumin  - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 leaflet
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Coriander leaves - 1 handful
Oil - 2 tsp

METHOD:
1. Steam idyappam as given in this blog earlier. (See for Idyappam and Kuruma)
2. In a tawa, heat oil and add mustard, cumin and after it splutters add, urad dhal, bengal gram, chopped chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida. Saute till the urad dhal and bengal gram turns golden brown.
3. Add onion and cook well until nice aroma comes out.
4. Add the steamed idyappam and chopped coriander leaves mix well with a ladle so that it crumbles into pieces.
5. Switch off the flame and sprinkle lemon juice and mix well.
6. Tasty Idyappam Uppuma is ready.
7. Peanut/Ground nut Chutney, Coconut chutney or Tomato chutney goes well with this uppuma.
5. Cook in a low flame and taste for salt. If needed add a little.

IDYAPPAM --- SWEET IDYAPPAM --- KURUMA

INGREDIENTS:

            FOR IDYAPPAM

            Raw rice flour – 1 cup

            Water – ¾ cup

            Salt

METHOD:

1.   Take a pan and allow the water to boil. Add salt to the raw rice flour and mix with a ladle.

2.   Add the boiling water little by little and mix well with the ladle. Water measurement may vary, as it depends on the quality of the flour.

3.   Take a small portion in make it into a dough. If it is not sticky and the dough comes out well, stop adding water.

4.   Let it cool. Mix it with hand, so that the whole dough looks even.

5.   Take an Idyappam maker, and fill the dough to its capacity.

6. Take and idly plate and rotate the handle and make idyappams in the shape of idly since it will be easy to serve.

7.    Steam the idyappams for 7 to 10 minutes.

8.    Remove the idyappams and store in a container.

SWEET IDYAPPAM:

INGREDIENTS:

            Steamed idyappam – 5 nos.

            Coconut (finely grated) – 2 tsp

            Sugar – 2 tsp

            Cardamom – 1 pinch

            Cashew nuts – 5

            Ghee – ½ tsp

METHOD:

1.    Take a pan and add ghee and roast the cashews.

2.    Add the steamed idyappams, coconut, sugar and cardamom.

3.    Mix well with a ladle.

4.    The idyappams will become soft and crumble into small pieces as we add sugar.

5.    Now Sweet idyappam is ready.

See for Lemon Idyappam in this blog

KURUMA:

INGREDIENTS:

            Carrot – 2

            Chow chow/ Chayote – ½

            Noolkol/ Kohlrabi – 1/2

            Peas – ½ cup

            Cabbage – 1 cup

            Onion – 1

            Sambar powder – 2 tsp

            Garam masala – ½ tsp

            Dried fenugreek leaves/ Kasuri methi – ½ tsp

            Oil/Ghee – 2 tsp

TO GRIND:

            Badam – 5

            Cashew – 3

            Poppy seeds – ½ tsp

            Fennel/ sombu – 1 tsp

            Ginger piece – 1 inch

            Garlic – 3

            Tomato – 1

            Cinnamon – 1

            Cloves – 2

METHOD:

1.    Heat oil in a pan and add onions, roast it for 2 minutes.

2.  Add the given vegetables and saute of sometime. Sprinkle some water and close the lid. Let it cook well.

3.   Add sambar powder, garam masala and cook till raw smell of the powder goes off.

4.   Add the grinded paste and salt. Cook for 10 minutes till it becomes a nice gravy. Add water if neeeded.

5.    Add Kasuri methi and mix well.

6.    Add a pinch of sugar to enhance taste if desired.