Kala chana sundal are Indian black chickpeas that are sautéed in an Indian spiced tadka with aromatics like cumin, curry leaves, and chilis and tossed with freshly grated coconut. They make for a great protein-packed snack or side dish.
What is sundal?
Sundal is a South Indian snack or side dish that is typically made from legumes like beans, chickpeas, or lentils that are sautéed or pan fried. There are so many preparations of sundal with varying spices, but South Indian style sundals typically have a tadka that contains curry leaves, cumin seeds, and mustards seeds and is topped with freshly grated coconut. Sundal is a dish often presented as an offering to the gods before prayers or during holidays.
What is kala chana?
Kala chana literally translates to black chickpeas. Kala chana is an Indian variety of chickpea that has a black outer skin and is generally smaller than the American chickpea variety. Kala chana has a bit more fiber and is a bit nuttier than American chickpeas as well. For this recipe, you can easily substitute American chickpeas that are either dried or of the canned variety. If you are using the canned variety, simply skip the chickpea cooking portion of this recipe.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Dry kala chana (black chickpeas) - Substitute American chickpeas or canned cooked chickpeas.
- Black mustard seeds
- Cumin seeds
- Split hulled urad dal - Adds crunch and a deep nuttiness to the dish that I think is crucial. If you don't want to buy this, I suggest toasting and adding whole peanuts with the skin on (spanish style peanuts) for extra crunch instead!
- Whole dried red chilis - Dried red Indian chilis or chile de arbol in the tadka add a subtle heat and smokiness to the dish. The seeds will be encased so they won't add a drastic heat.
- Thai chili - You can substitute with any fresh chili. This adds a herbal heat to the dish. Remove the seeds for less heat.
- Curry leaves - Add a fresh and earthy fragrance and flavor to the dish. Don't skip this!
- Asafetida (hing) - This helps your stomach digest the chickpeas! Feel free to skip if you don't have but it adds a nice funkiness to a dish.
- Freshly grated coconut
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Buy Now → Tips for cooking chickpeas
- Soaking chickpeas overnight will reduce cook time. Soaking chickpeas is beneficial for multiple reasons. It ensures that the chickpeas are more easily digestible, it helps ensure that all of the chickpeas cook evenly, and it reduces active cook time for the chickpeas, so if you have time, please do this!
- Do a shorter soak in hot water. If you don't have time to soak your chickpeas overnight, give your chickpeas a soak in hot water for at least one hour. This is a good compromise to soaking overnight.
- Cooking chickpeas in a pressure cooker reduces time to cook. This tip is especially important if you forgot to soak your chickpeas. Use the help of pressure cooking, whether it is a traditional pressure cooker or electric pressure cooker like the Instant Pot. This will help cook your chickpeas much faster than on the stovetop.
- Use chickpea doneness as a better indicator than time. This is because dried chickpeas can be at varying levels of dryness. If you have really old chickpeas, then it will take longer for the chickpeas to cook (especially if you didn't do an overnight soak).
Dishes that pair well with sundal
A classic meal that I love with sundal is some kind of dal, poriyal, and rice combo. Here are some recommendations in each category.
Dals
Poriyal and Rice Dishes
Poriyals even share ingredients shared with the sundal so it makes it easier to shop for!
Kala Chana Sundal | Sautéed Black Chickpeas
Kala chana sundal are Indian black chickpeas that are sautéed in an Indian spiced tadka with aromatics like cumin, curry leaves, and chilis and tossed with freshly grated coconut. They make for a great protein-packed snack or side dish.
Product Reccs
12 inch saute pan
Ingredients
For cooking chickpeas
- ½ cup dry kala chana black chickpeas
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Tadka
- 2 Thai chilis finely minced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¾ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon split hulled urad dal
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1-2 whole dried red chilis stem removed
- 15-20 curry leaves
- ⅛ teaspoon asafetida hing
Remaining ingredients
- ¼ cup (33 g) freshly grated coconut (thawed from frozen)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Cook the chickpeas (Skip if using canned chickpeas)
- Soak chickpeas: In a large bowl, place the ½ cup dry kala chanaAdd enough water to cover them and leave about 3 inches of water above the chickpeas. Soak the chickpeas for 12 hours or overnight to ensure that the chickpeas cook consistently. If you are short on time, pour boiling water on the chickpeas and let them soak for at least 1 hour.
- Drain the chickpea water that the chickpeas were sitting in. Place chickpeas in an Instant Pot with 2 cups water and ½ teaspoon fine sea salt and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
- Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release pressure or, if you are in a hurry, carefully release the pressure yourself by opening the pressure valve.
- Taste the chickpeas to check for doneness. The chickpeas should be firm and retain their shape but should be creamy on the inside. If the chickpeas are not cooked through, give them 5 more minutes in the Instant Pot. If the chickpeas are cooked through, drain any leftover water and set chickpeas aside.
Make the tadka
- Prepare all the ingredients in advance by chopping the 2 Thai chilis and measuring out everything for the tadka. Keep them within reach because the process moves fairly quickly.
- In a wide pan on medium heat, pool 2 tablespoons vegetable oil to one side of the pan. Add ¾ teaspoon mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon split hulled urad dal, and ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds into the pool of oil. Wait for the urad dal to slightly brown and the mustard and cumin seeds to dance and pop in the oil.
- Once the seeds start popping, add the 1-2 whole dried red chilis the finely chopped Thai chilis, and allow them to briefly (~15 seconds) sizzle in the oil.
- Last but not least, add the 15-20 curry leaves to the hot oil. Be careful as curry leaves with lots of moisture will pop vigorously.
- Once the curry leaves pop, reduce the heat to low and sprinkle in the ⅛ teaspoon asafetida.
Pan fry the chickpeas
- Add the drained chickpeas, ¼ cup (33 g) freshly grated coconut, and ¼ teaspoon sea salt to the pan. Turn the heat back up to medium and sauté all the ingredients together until all of the ingredients are warmed through.
- Taste the chickpeas and adjust with more salt as needed.
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Nutrition
Calories: 513kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 15gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 12gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.1gSodium: 1201mgPotassium: 692mgFiber: 15gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 475IUVitamin C: 213mgCalcium: 134mgIron: 5mg
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