You won’t find this dish on any restaurant menu – but ask anyone from Kerala, and they will tell you all about Kadala curry. This brown chickpea coconut curry is a very popular dish typically made on Sundays for breakfast/brunch and served with something called puttu (steamed rice and coconut). You can also eat it with idli/dosa, rice or an Indian flatbread. I think most Keralites love kadala curry because it’s a dish that tastes like home. Except for my husband… he was forced to eat this one too many times as a child and refuses to eat more than a small bowl of this whenever I make it. I’m okay with that because it just means more for me. And it is so good you guys! It’s Indian comfort food at it’s best. Kadala curry is so flavorful and it’s just the right amount of creamy. The spices in this dish mask the flavor of the coconut so you should know that the coconut milk isn’t overpowering. If you’re wondering what the word “kadala” means – it just means “chickpea.” The chickpeas used in this recipe are brown chickpeas which are different from garbanzo beans or white chickpeas. Brown chickpeas have a nutty flavor and they are denser than white chickpeas. If you press a cooked white chickpea between your fingers you can easily smush it, but with a brown chickpea you have to press a little harder to smush it. I realize this is probably an odd way to describe the texture but hopefully you get it. Basically, a brown chickpea is a hearty little thing. It’s tasty, try it!
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