Swaadista

Sprouted black chickpea curry, or Molake Kadalekalu Saaru in Kannada, is a tasty Indian side dish that goes great with plain steamed rice, quinoa, or any type of millet. Black chickpeas are awesome for you; they’re loaded with iron, protein, and fiber, which means they’ll keep you feeling full for longer.

This curry comes together by cooking sprouted black chickpeas with veggies like potatoes or eggplant, all mixed with a fresh masala paste. Making the paste is where most of the cooking fun happens—you start by sautéing onions, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes, then blend it all with coconut and some spices for an amazing flavor. While I’ve used home-sprouted chickpeas for this dish, you can totally skip that step and grab some pre-sprouted ones from the store to save time.

Feel free to switch things up and use other legumes like horse gram, black-eyed peas, or white chickpeas if you want. Just follow the same recipe, and you’ll end up with a packed-with-protein curry that’s perfect as a side dish for any meal.

For sprouted horse gram curry recipe, click – Molake hurali kalu saaru. 

Prep time: 48 hours(including sprouting time)
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4-5 Servings

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of cooking oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoons of onion, chopped
one sprig of curry leaves
150g sprouted black chickpeas/kadalekalu
1 large potato, skin-peeled & diced
3-4 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped
Water

For the masala paste:

2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 small onion, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
2 green chilies or to taste
3-4 dried red chili (Byadagi), for color
3 cloves
½ inch cinnamon
4-5 cloves of garlic
½ inch ginger
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
3 tablespoons of grated coconut
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro
½ teaspoon red chili powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. For preparing the masala paste:  Heat cooking oil in a pan on medium heat. Add and sauté dried red chilies, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, poppy seeds for 20 seconds. Then add ginger, garlic, onions, and sauté until onion translucent. Lastly, add tomatoes and sauté until they are soft. Turn off heat and allow these ingredients to cool. Transfer the cooled ingredients into a mixer. Into that, add grated coconut, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt to taste and pour little water and blend the ingredients into a fine masala paste.

2. Heat cooking oil in a pressure cooker on medium heat.
3. Add mustard seeds, once it pops, add curry leaves, chopped onion and sauté until onion translucent.
4. Pour the freshly made masala paste into the pressure cooker, mix well and sauté for 2 minutes on low-medium heat.

5. Then add the sprouted black chickpeas, diced potatoes, and cook them for a minute or two.
6. Pour water as required(as per consistency), mix well, and allow the mixture to come to a boil on medium heat.
7. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.

8. Cover the lid and pressure cook on low-medium heat until five whistles, or until the chickpeas are soft and cooked perfectly. Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.
9. Pour water to adjust the curry consistency, if necessary.
10. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve sprouted black chickpeas curry with steamed rice, quinoa, or Ragi mudde. Enjoy!

Note:

• You can store this curry in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, if necessary. Reheat before consuming.

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