Channa

I chose to make channa for my soup because I'm trying to learn more about home style Indian cuisine. I had a really good time making this soup because I was learning to make it from my mom,

Ingredients:
1 lb dry white chick peas (soaked over night)
3 L water
200 ml vegetable oil
1 tbs cumin
2 1/2 heads of garlic roughly chopped
3 white onions diced
3 tbs finely diced ginger
5 small tomatoes
6 green chilies finely chopped
salt to taste
1 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp gram masala
1/4 bunch fresh Coriander

Method: Start by rinsing soaked chickpeas and placing in 3 liters of water in a pressure cooker and approx 2 tsp of salt. while chickpeas are cooking make the tharka. Heat oil in a deep wok (kadhi) add cumin and toast for approx 1 min or until fragrant. Add in garlic and fry for approx 2 minutes or until very lightly browned, add in onions and saute for approx 8-10 mins or until golden brown. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Once onions are golden brown add in ginger and cook until onions have browned completely. Add in tomatoes and fresh chilies, and approx 1 1/2 tsp of salt to break down tomatoes. Continue to stir, cook on medium high heat for approx 7-10 mins or until tomatoes have broken down. Add in spices and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Once chickpeas have fully cooked add tharka into the chickpeas (do not throw away cooking liquid from chickpeas). Continue to cook together  for 15 minutes on low, adjust consistency by adding water. season to taste and garnish with fresh coriander once completely cooked. Serve with roti.

Before cooking 

Frying garlic

Sauteing onions and garlic with cumin

Add in ginger at this point

Fully browned onions

Adding tomatoes and chilies

Fully cooked tharka

Adding tharka to cooked chickpeas

Done

Served with roti

I was really happy with the way this came out considering it was my first time making it. The smell from it was amazing after adding the fresh coriander it had turmeric coriander smell. It was nice golden reddish colour with speck of green through out. The taste was slightly spicy with hints of ginger and coriander but it could have used a bit more salt according to my father. Texture wise the broth of it was quite runny and the chickpeas were cooked but not mushy.

The biggest challenge for me was getting the chickpeas fully cooked, after i opened the pressure cooker they were still raw so i had to continue to cook them for 20 minutes. Overall it was a success, but if i had to do something differently I would soak the chickpeas overnight. My family liked it, but my brother said it could use a bit more spice and my dad said it could have used some more salt.

I definitely feel more confident making Indian food, making dall has a similar processor to this, I believe I will be able to make many types of dall now

Fermentation

I've chosen to do an Indian style plain yogurt also known dhai. I started with 500 ml of whole milk, I then brought 250 ml of the milk to a boil and poured it back into the remaining cold milk. I then got about 5 ml of yogurt with live cultures and and mixed it with equal parts water and about half a gram of sugar, after stirring  the sugar water yogurt mixture I poured it into the milk and gently mixed it. I then covered it and let it ferment over night, the next morning I placed it in the fridge and it this point it was ready to consume. This is my dads recipe so all credit goes to him. I think this was a very successful attempt the texture was nice and smooth, the taste was just slightly sweet but not over powering, it smelt like every other dhai I've ever had and it was nice and white in color just as intended. I wouldn't do anything differently but I might try and add some flavor to it next time, maybe some honey or maple syrup.

Cold milk

Boiling the milk

final product with fresh strawberries and honey

Sugar water and live cultures mix