Chana Sundal | Chickpea Sundal is a healthy snack or side dish prepared with cooked chickpeas, tempered with spices along with fresh coconut.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 510 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Cuisine: Indian, South Indian

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup dried white chickpeas (kabuli chana/chole) ((or 1 can canned chickpeas))
  • 1.5 cups water (for pressure cooking)
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon urad dal
  • 1 dry red chili
  • 1 green chili
  • 1 stalk curry leaves
  • 1/8 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
  • salt (to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh shredded coconut

Method

For soaking and cooking chickpeas

  1. Rinse ½ cup of dried chickpeas and soak them in 1 cup of water in a large bowl for at least 8 hours or overnight.
  2. Once you are ready to cook, drain the water and add the soaked chickpeas to the pressure cooker along with 1 ½ cups of water, and some salt. Cook for 4-5 whistles. If using an Instant Pot pressure cooker, check out the detailed post on how to cook chickpeas in Instant Pot. Once done, drain the water.

For Making Chickpeas Sundal

  1. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, and when they splutter, add urad dal and sauté until the dal turns golden brown. Then add red chili, green chili, curry leaves, and asafoetida. Saute for few seconds.
  2. Next, add the cooked chickpeas and salt, and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium-low heat. Then, turn off the flame. Add grated coconut and mix well again.
  3. The Chickpea sundal is ready to be served. If preferred, you can add a few drops of lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.