Sautéed Fresh Garbanzo Beans ~ Sautéed Green Chana

Last Updated on March 10, 2012

Last time I made garbanzo beans pulao or green chana pulao, U liked it very much and wanted me to make it more often. So last week when I did my Indian groceries, I picked up some green chana. I bought more than a lb., more than what my cousin had given me last month and it took me over an hour to shell all those chana! 🙁 After that time consuming shelling process, I decide I was not buying green chana again! This is the last of these you are going to see in this space and also in my kitchen, at least for this season! Wouldn’t it be nice, if they sold shelled fresh chana? I would have made something with it, almost every other day, all thru the season! That is how much I like green chana and miss being in Hyderabad during winters, the green chana season!

Sautéed garbanzo beans is a very common evening snack this time of the year, back home. This can also be served for breakfast and that is exactly what I did this morning. U did not want any breakfast. I was left with a box of fresh garbanzo beans and some dosa batter. I chose green chana and made myself some sauteed green chana! I ate my bowl and saved this for U.

Below picture was taken on Mar 10th 2012

Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1 – 2
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups / 375 gms shelled Fresh Garbanzo Beans
¾ – 1 tsp Salt
1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Oil (approx.)
2-3 Curry leaves toren into 2-3 pieces
¼ tsp Mustard
¼ tsp Jeera
½ small Onion chopped
4 – 5 green Chilies cut
1 Scallion chopped (opt. but recommended)
2 tsp Garlic crushed
½ tsp Turmeric
Cilantro to garnish

Preparation:

Wash the chana, cook the chana in some water. Chana cooks very fast, about 5 minutes. Once it comes to a boil, keep an eye on it. It cooks in a blink of an eye!
Drain the water, add salt, mix well and cover the pan. At this point, my mom grinds 3/4th of the chilies to paste and adds it to cooked chana. Then, she cooks it on low flame for few minutes. By doing this, chana is steamed with the green chilies paste and salt. By doing this, chana is well seasoned and flavors get into the chana. I skipped this method, as I was lazy to pull out my grinder to make the paste.
Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and mustard. Let it splutter. I skipped this step as I don’t like chewing those seeds.
Add onion, curry leaves and saute for a minute.
Add green chilies, garlic and saute for few seconds.
Add turmeric adn mix well.
Add green chana, mix well and saute for 5 minutes until the chana is well sauteed.
Garnich with cilantro and serve hot.

Serving Suggestions:
If you feel you need more heat to get a kick out of these chana, server it with one of the following