Channa Chat

Channa - also known as Garbanzo beans/ Chickpea is a very good source of fiber, iron, protein. This helps lower cholesterol and improve blood sugar levels. So this is a great food for diabetic patients. This can also help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease and certain cancers when eaten regularly. There are numerous recipes that can be made with this rich protein content. This recipe is a very simple evening snack. It was a very pleasant Saturday evening, when I made Channa chat along with Curd vada for our snack. This was a wonderful combination.
Pre-preparation : 6 hours
Preparation time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Channa dhal - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1 medium sized
3. Tomato - 1 medium sized
4.  Salt - to taste
5. Tamarind chutney - 3 tablespoon
6. Coriander chutney - 3 tablespoon
7. Chat powder - 1/2 tablespoon
8. Coriander leaves - for garnish

For Tamarind Chutney
1. Tamarind extract - 50 ml
2. Sugar - 2 tablespoon

For Coriander Chutney
1. Coriander leaves - a bunch
2. Green chillies - 3
3. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tablespoon

Preparation:
1. Soak Channa for 6 hours and pressure cook it with little salt for 3 whistles.
2. Finely chop onions,tomatoes and coriander leaves.
3. Mix sugar with the tamarind extract and heat it for 2 minutes to make tamarind chutney.
4. Grind Coriander leaves, green chillies and cumin seeds to prepare the coriander chutney.
5. Add 3/4th of the chopped onions, salt, chat powder to the cooked channa and heat it for five minutes.
6. Remove it from heat and add tamarind and coriander chutney and mix it well
7. Garnish with chopped tomatoes, remaining onions and coriander leaves.
Channa chat is ready to eat.

Note:
1. You can make small, crispy poori with wheat/maida and break into small pieces and add to this chat.