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Chana Gassi /Ghassi – Mangalorean Coconut Onion sauce with Chickpeas. Simplified adaptation of Regional Indian Curry from Coastal Karnataka. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Nut-free Recipe
I remember trying a version of Kori Gassi which is a popular chicken curry from Mangalorean cuisine (coastal region in Karnataka state) way back when. The Sauce is made with a few ingredients but packs an amazing complex flavor. This coconut onion sauce can be used with veggies and tofu as well. I use chickpeas with it and served it with tomato rice. Dried chickpeas that are soaked for a few hours and pressure cooked in a pressure cooker/Instant Pot. You can also make it in a saucepan, see recipe notes.
The sauce cooks and caramelizes under pressure with the chickpeas, it it does not need to be pre-roasted. If however you are using cooked chickpeas or veggies, cook the sauce until the onion doesn’t smell raw, then add the veggies/chickpeas and simmer. Just when you thought we cant have more chickpea curries :). There are many sauces and curries across regional Indian cuisines that use various ingredients and spices very different from each other and often paired with meats, paneer or legumes. The different flavors, textures, spices all work equally beautifully with the different beans and pulses, seitan/chikin subs, and tofu. Its all about the sauce. Lets make this Mangalorean Chana Ghassi!
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chickin(soycurls). GF
- Lentil Veggie Dhansak – Lentil Veggie Stew in IP. GF
- Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coconut sauce GF
- Lentil Sweet Potato Curry GF
- Aloo Palak Dal- Potato Spinach Lentils in IP. GF
- Chana Saag – Chickpea Spinach Curry GF
Try this sauce with chikin substitutes for variation like soycurls, seitan, jackfruit etc. Like regional Indian recipes like these? Try some from my first book Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen!
Then fragrant spices and coconut
Chana Gassi /Ghassi - Mangalorean Coconut Onion sauce with Chickpeas.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dried chickpeas, soaked for atleast 4 hours
- 2 dried red chilies, (I use 1 hot cayenne/thai and 1 bydagi/guajillo, use any mild or moderately hot red chilies), these get blended and hence will release all the heat, so choose accordingly.
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/4 tsp black peppercorns, less for less heat
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut, , dried or fresh/frozen
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1/2 medium onion, , roughly chopped
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup water, to blend
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 to 1 tsp tamarind paste
- Lemon and cayenne for garnish.
Termpering:
- 1 tsp oil, , organic safflower or other neutral oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 8 to 10 curry leaves
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas if you havent already, See notes for making with cooked chickpeas. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Toast the coriander seeds, chilies and black pepper until the seeds start changing color. Add coconut and mix in. Roast for half a minute or until coconut starts to get golden.
- Transfer to a blender. Add onion, garlic, cinnamon, water and blend until the coconut breaks down. *(Some onion and garlic can turn bitter on blending for long. When in doubt, blend the coconut,water and spices, then add onion and garlic and blend in short pulses till a coarse mixture, or use finely chopped onion and garlic instead of blended).
- Add the blended mixture to Instant pot or pressure cooker. Add turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt and mix in.
- Drain and wash the chickpeas, add to the pot with 1 cup water and mix in. Cook on Manual (hi) for 35 to 40 minutes. Release the pressure after 10 mins.
- Add in the tamarind, lemon, and additional salt if needed. Add cayenne if needed and mix in.
- Make the tempering. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and cook until the mustard seeds splutter. Add curry leaves carefully. Take off heat and mix into the chickpeas. Serve hot with rice or flatbread.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely delicious! I just made it and am eating it right now. Both the tomato rice and the curry. I will try to sub the rice with quinoa next time to make it more healthy (not like it isn’t healthy already). Thank you so much for posting your recipes are always a hit
This is delicious. I used large flakes of coconut and my Vita-mix did not emulsify the coconut, as I believe it would had I used grated coconut. Nonetheless, the flavor is wonderful and I will make this often. Very easy, and fast as long as you have all the spices measured and ready to go.
Thank you Molly =)
I made this tonight with pre cooked chickpeas and I was a bit lazy so I fried the mustard seeds and fenugreek in the pot first of all and omitted the tempering. It was still utterly delicious! That toasted coconut and spices was crazy good. I added minced keffir lime leaves and a little rice flour at the end for thickening. Thank you so much Richa, I really enjoy your recipes!!
Thanks!
So… I live in Ecuador, where getting things shipped is hard (people sometimes request visiting Americans to bring things that they bought on Amazon and pay them!), and there is nary an Indian grocery store in sight. How critical is the tempering process for this recipe? I can get the ingredients for the “main” ingredient list relatively easily, but fenugreek, curry leaves, and mustard seeds – I didn’t think to pack some dried kasuri methi/curry, or bring mustard seeds and am regretting it. (Though I suppose, if you haven’t tried it without tempering, I’ll take one for the team and let you know!)
it should be flavorful without too. I try to keep the recipes as close to traditional as possible with some simplified steeps and ingredients. There are layers of flavors. You can probably use just cumin seeds in the tempering if you have some, or add a 1/4 tsp ground mustard to the simmering sauce instead.
Dear Richa,
Thanks for sharing another beautiful recipe!
What could substitute curry leaves?
Thanks a million =)
You can just leave them out. If you an find some fresh, you can freeze them for upto a year and use directly from the freezer. they add a fantastic flavor.
This recipe was very spicy and felt extremely heavy for a vegan entrée. I ate it with the tomato rice and both dishes tasted slightly sour. Next time I might omit the lemon or add some coconut milk to the channa to help mellow the overpowering spice. I used one can of chickpeas and this would not make enough to feed 4 people. My dish also did not have the beautiful orange-brown color pictured, it was just dark brown.
I am so sorry it didnt turn out. The heat depends on the red chilies. I use a combination of very mild and regular indian chiles as the indian chilies can get very hot as they are blended.
I am not sure why the sauce was sour or too dark. With 1/2 tsp tamarind paste, its just a mild sour flavor addition. Maybe the onions browned too much for the color? Which method of cooking did you use?
The serving size is for dry chickpeas which expand to 2+ cups on soaking. Canned usually contain 1.25 to 1.5 cups. i’ll add that to the recipe as 2 to 4 serves depending on the ingredients and how it is served. Let me know if you can pinpoint what happened sow e can troubleshoot further.
Thanks for the tips! I definitely think using more chickpeas next time would balance the spice. I did use the Indian red chilies and also used the stovetop cooking method and added more than 1/2 tsp tamarind so I will cut back next time.
great! yes use atleast 1.5 cans and adjust the heat and flavor while everything is simmering. Add more coconut to reduce heat, more chickpeas and so on.
Richa, thank you for this recipe! It was delicious. I have some questions, though, since mine did not come out as expected (flavors were gorgeous, but the texture was off).
Since I had a can of chickpeas, I followed your saucepan notes. I also used desiccated coconut. My dish was much drier than expected — I would not call it a sauce at all. The end result, when mixed with rice, was more of a biryani (not that I am complaining…). Should I have added more water to the blender for the coconut mixture? Should I have used a food processor instead? I noticed that the desiccated coconut was pulsed upward and wouldn’t blend. I did add 1/2 cup of water to the blender, but I’m thinking more would have been appropriate. Also, for the saucepan, should I have added more/another liquid?
Thanks again, and I’m looking forward to your advice!
You can add more water while it is simmering. The evaporation will depend on the pan and the stove. so if the sauce is evaporating and thickening too much, just add more water during simmering time and ensure that it comes to a boil. You can also add more water for blending the coconut. It depends n the blender and you do want to bread the shreds down to very small pieces so that the coconut is not mouthy in the sauce. Hope this helps!
Thank you, Richa! I will try out more water next time and let you know. It was delicious either way.
Hi – I have just tried this but my chickpeas burned (and i checked them 10 mins before the time was up). There just didn’t seem to be enough liquid to cook the chickpeas in.
Did you cook them in the instant pot or saucepan? The saucepan instructions are for already cooked chickpeas and they need less water to just simmer for a while. If using dried chickpeas in the saucepan, you would need about 3 cups of water and cook for 40 minutes or so