Kadle Bele Chatni or Channa Dal Chatni

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, is a proverb, which at least is true in my case!! My husband loves good food, variety food, and top of it, if served artistically, he just loves it!

In my case, I guess you can win all my in-laws through their stomach!! As I was writing that, now, my mother-in-law(MIL) is here, I was trying to win her.......by trying and cooking different things.

She loves my Kadle bele chatni, very much. So today I thought of making it.

This morning after dropping off my elder daughter to school, it was very cold, I came back and was sipping hot coffee and was chatting with MIL and she went to flashback..........and was telling her experiences about her life after marriage..............!! And suddenly she asked whats the time now.....we had chatted for one hour!! And it was past the breakfast time, and I was running out of all the options for breakfast, could not think of anything! So MIL suggested that she will eat frozen chapathi with the kadle bele chatni!

So I made the kadle bele chatni! MIL, takes medications,so she needs to eat breakfast on time. She started to warm up the frozen chapathis and I was giving the final touch to the chatni, my younger daughter was bored by then, started crying, asked me to carry her!

MIL, took her to the family room to play with her. I knew she was waiting........but still I hurriedly took the camera and took couple of pictures of the chatni and then served her the chapathi and chatni!

Shh! Please don't tell her that taking picture for the blog became priority than her eating breakfast and taking medication! But I also have to give importance to my dear blog readers, right! Because of your encouragement, I am able to write today..........!!

Thank you for reading all my blogs and supporting and encouraging me to write more! Now I will share the best chatni recipe, which is my aunt's, which goes well with chapathis or hot rice or dosa!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Kadle bele(Channa dal)
4-5 Red chillies(Or adjust according to taste)
1/2 Onion roughly chopped
3 Tbsp Coconut
1 small lemon size tamarind soaked in hot water
1/4 Jaggery
salt to taste
1 Tsp Oil
1/4 Tsp mustard seeds
Few curry leaves

Method:

Fry Kadle bele(Channa dal), until golden brown and transfer that to a plate or container. Add one drop of oil and fry onion for 2 Min's and transfer that to a plate and fry red chillies.

Once all the ingredients are cool, put them in the mixer and extract tamarind juice and add it. Add jaggery,salt,coconut and grind it coarsely. This chatni tastes better if it is coarsely grounded.

Now transfer the chatni to a bowl and heat the oil and add mustard seeds and one red chilly(Optional) and curry leaves and add that to the chatni and enjoy either with dosa/chapathi or rice! (Oh! by the way MIL said that its the best chatni she has ever eaten!)