Kadala Pidi aka Undayum Kadalayum

Please go on and repeat the title after me 5 times, that is a crash course on Malayalam for you. Now you have proved that you can learn our language easily, please proceed and try your luck at enouncing the following line 3 times “ethappazham puzhungi vizhungi”. Well done! You are hereby ready to plan your retirement in a beautiful little cottage by the backwaters in Kerala. You will thrive; conversing in the language with such fluency that will put the locals to shame! Thank you. Also, none of these words are bad; title of the post means chickpeas and dough balls roughly and the next one is something like “Plantains boiled and swallowed”.

The name by this dish is called in northern Kerala ( Undaym Kadalyum) sounds more like a title of a story I might have heard as a child, but it is not. As a matter of fact, I had no idea about its existence until about two years ago a friend from Kannur casually mentioned it when we were talking. The description sounded more like a vegetarian version of kozhi pidi, a dish made of rice dumplings and spiced chicken.

The dumplings can be made using rice flour, wheat flour or using both. Black chick peas are preferred, but if you cannot get it by any means, garbanzo beans could work too. The prep work is time consuming; you really will have to make the dough balls as small as uncooked garbanzo beans to get the dish right, but well worth the effort I would say. I got the generous company of my three year old while working on the dough, who had a better idea about how small, small should be. While the tiny dumpling I made looked like an Indian gooseberry at the beginning, she got it right at the very first time. It is all a matter of perspective I say!

Kadala Pidi 

Recipe

Rice flour – 2 ½ cup
Chick peas black – 2 cups
Coconut grated – 1 ½ cup
Curry leaves – ¼ cup
Onion chopped – 1 cup + 2 tbsp
Garlic crushed – ¼ cup
Ginger crushed – 1/4 tbsp
Green chilies – crushed – 1 tsp
Cumin – 1 ½ tsp
Fennel seeds – crushed – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Oil – 4 tbsp
Salt – 1 tsp

Soak black chick peas over night in water. Cook till the peas are soft in a sauce pan or by using a pressure cooker. When the peas are cooked (with the skin still intact), add 1/4 tsp salt, keep for 10 minutes, and drain excess water. Keep aside

Heat a frying pan and add 1 cup of grated coconut. Dry roast with constant stirring till it is golden brown. Turn off the heat, immediately transfer to a plate. Let it cool. Grind the roasted coconut to a fine paste using a blender, adding just enough water to keep the blades working. Keep aside.

Add the rice flour in a large mixing bowl, add 1 tsp crushed cumin,1/2 cup coconut , 2 tbsp finely crushed onions, and ¼ tsp salt. Add some boiling water (about 1 ½ cup, add more if needed) and mix with a wooden spoon till the flour comes together as a soft dough. When the dough is still warm (but not hot) knead the dough really well with your hands, till it is soft and without lumps (for about 6 minutes). Apply some oil to your hands and form small balls out of the dough (size of a cooked garbanzo bean), and arrange on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat the process till all the dough is used up.

Heat 1 tbsp oil, when it is hot, add crushed green chilies, ½ tsp crushed cumin, crushed garlic, crushed ginger, crushed fennel seeds and sauté for 1 minute. Turn the heat to low, add garam masala, chilly powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder. Mix well, and sauté for 1 more minute. Now add three cups of water and ½ tsp salt to the mixture. Bring the heat up, cook till the water comes to a rolling boil. At this point add the

dough balls. Keep covered and cook for 10 minutes, occasionally stirring to keep the balls separate. After 10 minutes, open the lid, add the cooked chickpeas, adjust the salt if needed and continue cooking with occasional stirring till the mixture starts to thicken. Now add ground coconut, mix well, and cook at high heat with constant stirring till the mixture becomes almost dry with the gravy thickly coating the dough balls. Remove from the stove.



Heat 2 tbsp oil, when the oil is hot add 1 cup finely shopped onions, sauté till the pieces are golden brown. Add curry leaves, when the leaves stop spluttering turn off the heat and add the seasoning to the cooked dumpling mixture. Stir well to combine, keep covered for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with toasted grated coconut and cilantro

Serve along with onion tomato raitha

Onion tomato raitha

Chopped tomato – 1 cup
Chopped onion – ¼ cup

Yogurt – 1 cup
Water – ½ cup
Salt – to taste

Mix everything together and keep for 1 hour before serving.

22 comments Curries, Kerala, Rice-Pasta-Noodles

Share: