Last week, I visited my cousin for Diwali and she made green chana eka fresh green garbanzo beans pulao.  That made me nostalgic!  Back home, every winter, these green chana, also called hari boot or hari bhoot would make it to the dining table very often.  At times, it was our  breakfast or evening snack as sautéed chana and sometimes  as rice pulao for lunch.

My local Indian store sells fresh chana when it is in season and I rarely pick it up dreading the time-consuming process of shelling the beans.  Last week, my cousin gave me couple of packs of fresh chana, little less than a lb, she had in her fridge.  After shelling them, after 30 -35 minutes of hard work, the chana was just sufficient to make pulao for two… 😮   So, it was green chana pulao for dinner Monday night. I made some tomato yogurt pachadi as a side dish to go with the pulao.

Green Chana or Fresh Garbanzo Beans Pulao
Cooking Time: 20 – 25 minutes
Serves: 2

Printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp Oil
• 5 Cardamoms
• 2-3 Cloves
• small piece Cinnamon
• 3-4 Bay Leaves
• 1/2 tsp Sahajeera
• 1/4 cup chopped Methi or Fenugreek (opt.)
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped Mint
• 1 small Onion sliced
• 6-8 green Chilies (adjust to your heat tolerance level)
• 2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
• 2 1/4 cup Green Chana
• 2 1/4 cup Rice (measuring cup that comes with the rice cooker)
• 4 1/3 cup Water (same cup used to measure rice)
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Shell the garbanzo beans, wash and keep them aside.
2. Wash rice and soak it for 30 minutes.
3. 20 minutes into soaking rice, we can start the preparation of pulao.
4. Heat oil in a pan.  Add cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, bay leave, sahajeera and let the spices splutter and change color.
5. Add methi, mint and saute for few seconds.
6. Add onion, green chilies and saute until onions turn  light brown.
7. Add ginger garlic and fry for a minute or two until the rawness of the ginger is gone.
8. Meantime, boil water in another pot or microwave it for couple of minutes.  This step can also be skipped.
9. Add fresh green chana or garbonzo beans and rice to the onion mixture, and fry for a minute or two.
10. Add drained rice and fry for another couple of minutes or until rice is lightly roasted.
11. Pour hot/boiling/room temperature water and mix well.   Cover it and let it boil.
12. Once it boils, reduce the flame to medium low and let it cook until rice is well done.
13. Sprinkle chopped cilantro and serve it hot with your favorite raita or shorva. I served mine with tomato perugu (yogurt) pachadi.

Note:

• I used 1:1 rice to green chana ratio.  Next time I prepare it, I would do 1:1 1/4 ratio rice to green chana.
• During the preparation, I microwaved water for couple minutes.  This is optional.  You can skip this step, step # 8 in the preparation.  You can use room temperature water if you wish.
• Can prepare pulao in a rice cooker too.  Follow the preparation till step 10.  Transfer the rice to rice cooker container, add water and switch on the cooker.  Once it shuts off, that is rice is done, sprinkle cilantro and let it site for 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

Tomato Yogurt Pachadi

Cooking Time: 15 – 20 minutes (this includes cooling time)
Serves: 2
Printable recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1/2 tsp Cumin
• 1 small Onion chopped
• 3 – 4 Green Chilies chopped
• 1 1/2 – 2 tsp chopped or crushed Garlic
• 3 small Vine Tomatoes chopped or 1 1/2 cup diced Tomatoes
• Salt to taste
• 1/8 tsp Mustard powder
• 1 cup Yogurt (I used homemade yogurt but store bought is also fine)

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a pan, add cumin and let it splutter.
• Add onion, green chilies, garlic and mix well.
• Add tomato and salt, mix well.You need not wait for the onions to cook before adding tomatoes.
• Cover and cook for 5 – 8 minutes until tomatoes are soft and mushy.
• Add mustard powder and mix it well.
• Turn off the heat and let it cool.
• In a serving bowl, take yogurt, add the tomato mixture and mix well.
• Taste the pachadi and adjust the seasoning. If the tomatoes are not tangy, you could add few drops of lime juice.
• Garnish with cilantro.