Chana ghashi is a thick Konkan-style coconut-based chickpea curry (kabuli chana). This flavourful dish is a typical Mangalorean preparation and a favourite up and down the Konkan coast….and understandably so…it’s easy to fall in love with this veg ghashi recipe of chickpeas simmered in a delicious spicy and tangy coconut-based curry.
Chano means chickpea and ghashi refers to a spicy thick coconut-based curry in Konkani.
Ghashi (also ghassi, ghashi, or gassi) is typically made of fresh ground spices including red chillies and coconut. There are a variety of ghashis and among them chana ghashi is the most popular. Konkani chana ghashi is also known as chana sukka.
Channa Ghashi is among the most well-known dishes of the Mangalorean Gowd Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) Konkani community.
Follow our quick and simple recipe to make this delicious chickpea curry in Konkani style with its wonderful combination of tastes and flavours.
This chana ghashi recipe is usually prepared on special occasions like weddings, thread ceremony, and Hindu festivals because it does not contain onion and garlic, which are prohibited ingredients on such auspicious and religious occasions.
Hence, this no-onion, no-garlic dish is made for Ganesh Chaturthi and Ugadi (the new year in Karnataka which also marks the beginning of the harvest season). Chana gassi is served as prasadam at the Sri Venkataramana temple in Udupi and in other temples in the region. Here chana ghashi is served on banana leaves by temple volunteers.
Chana is traditionally made on Friday in households in the Konkan region. It is believed that consuming chana on Friday pleases Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and she then showers extra blessings on you. Perhaps this belief is a way of including a variety of beans and legumes, high in protein, in the local diet.
The highlight of chana ghashi is the phodo or vegetable that goes into it. The most popular choices are potato (as in our Mangalorean style chana ghashi recipe), yam (suran), tender jackfruit (kadgi), breadfruit, raw green banana (plantain), raw mango, and white radish.
Cooking chickpeas and vegetables together ensures not only a protein-rich and healthy dish, but also one that is delicious, thanks to the enticing aroma and complex flavours of coconut, tamarind, jaggery, curry leaves, and various spices and aromatics.
Chana ghashi is a delightful combination of spicy, sweet, and sour tastes and flavours. Tamarind pulp adds a wonderful tangy sourness. Red chillies (it is best to use either Kashmiri or Byadgi chillies) impart a beautiful red colour without adding too much heat. Jaggery perks up the dish, brightening it, without making it sweet.
Serve chana ghashi hot with thin, crispy rice rotti (made of rice flour) or akki rotti (rice bread). The roti is crushed and added to the dish to soak up the thick curry.
Or serve it with poori or chapati. Or serve it as a side dish with hot steamed plain rice. It also pairs well with plain dosa and neer dosa.
For a larger Konkani meal, serve chana ghashi along with bitter gourd or karela (karate podi in Konkani), a traditional Konkani dish prepared for special occasions and festivals; green beans upkari (vegetable stir fry; upkari means dry curry without masala in Konkani); and dalitoy / dalitove / daali thoy, a tur dal-based curry that is a favourite in Konkani households and an essential part of meals served in Konkani temples in Mangalore. Add dudde randayi (pumpkin–peas masala), mooga mole randayi (sprouted moong dal), a cooling potato raita, and papad if you like. Wash it all down with fresh buttermilk.
Chana ghashi can be made with either black chickpea or white chickpea (kabuli chana). You can use other lentils, pulses, or legumes for the dish as well, depending on the seasonal availability of these ingredients, the day of the week, and the occasion.
For best results, use dried chana instead of canned chana. Avoid canned chickpeas because they have a high sodium content. We think home-cooked chickpeas have more flavour and absorb spices and seasonings better.
Make sure that the pressure-cooked or braised chickpeas have been cooked properly. They should be easy to mash when pressed between the thumb and the index finger.
To enhance the flavour of the spices and aromatics in this chana ghashi Konkan style, dry-roast them before grinding with the coconut to make the paste.
The coconut curry should be thick and not watery. Konkani style chickpeas curry can be made with a thinner gravy if you wish to eat it with rice.
For extra-thick Konkani chana curry like the one that is served in temples, weddings, and festivals, add a few grains of rice or a few cooked chickpeas to the masala while grinding it, or add rice flour to the curry and mix it well, ensuing that no clumps of rice flour remain.
Learn how to make chane ghashi Konkan Style with our step by step video instructions and recipe. Find all ingredients and easy cooking method here from Yummefy Recipes.
Or take a look at all our Vegetarian Recipes right here!