UP wala Hare chane ka Nimona

Hare chana or matar ka nimona is an old school dish in UP and is served with rice or roti in chilling winters which uses no oil or less oil, extremely beneficial as winter diet.

Chilly winter weather affects more than just your wardrobe and heating bill.winterising your diet can be healthy and tasty if you include cold weather food in your diet.Hare chane is one of them.

Hara chana is less talked about, underrated and desi favourite and is cooked in vegetarian curries and in hara chana pulav also.In some places of Rajasthan it is also known as choliya,lilve,boote and many more.It is known as garbanzo beans.

If you haven’t sampled this nutritious and delicious winter vegetable, then a trip to your local grocers will allow you to acquaint yourselves with the tiny green chickpeas that are often sold along with the branches that they grow on. They are plucked from the branches and then their soft and fuzzy outer covering is removed to reveal the tiny young chana, which can even be enjoyed raw.

I remember…oooo… nostalgic!when I was in my early 10’s my parents sowed grams in soil before the commencement of winters around navratri.The fruit got ready within 2 months of seeds sowed.I spent my Sundays plucking those branches and chewing these soft hara chana for hours.My mother cooked hara chana by first coarsely grinding the chana using silbatta(motar pestle) and adding curd or Buttermilk to the curry.She served this traditional curry with makke ki roti and rice.

There are a number of different ways of consuming hara chana during winters. You can mash the tender chickpeas and add them to your parathas, or use them in salads as well as in rice and meat dishes. Make sure you add this wonderful vegetable to your winter diet before it goes out of season!

Highlights

• Rich in protein
• Rich in vitamin A,B9(folate) and C
• Can be cooked or even eaten raw
• Desi indian food and enjoyed in winters for a very short period of time.

This recipe is for NIMONA,which I got to know about an year ago when I got married and as a new dulhan I wasn’t allowed to cook and was served tasty UP traditional food in my room itself.Hehe..sounds crazy but yes I am blessed with such in laws.The nimona that I had was made using fresh green peas,a soupy curry which was served with steamed rice and hot rotis.I learnt this recipe from my sister in law and it worked well as now I personally am fond of this curry and cook whenever find fresh peas or chana as soon as winters hit.

This recipe uses minimum spices and is very healthy,free from any preservatives,tender lush green chana,potatoes and tomatoes.Traditionally in UP villages, the green seeds of coriander are used to make Nimona. They are ground to a paste and added in the curry.Urad dal badi is the key spice ingredient used in nimona but in my recipe I skipped it as it was not available at that moment when I got these fresh chana.It is fried before adding to the curry.

Ingredients

• 300 gm hara chana
• 2 tomatoes medium sized
• 3 potatoes medium sized
• 8-10 green chillies(I have not added urad bari in this recipe)
• 1.5 inch ginger
• Handful of green coriander
• 6-8 cloves garlic
• Pinch of asafoetida
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 whole red chilli

Follow simple steps:

1. Peel green chana and wash with water.

2. Grind green chana in a grinder and keep some full green chana aside.

3. Heat a kadhai,add mustard oil and then the green chana paste.let it cook until the chana gets separated.

4. Take out the cooked chana and add oil again in the same kadahi.Add mustard oil,cumin seeds,whole red chilli and let cumin seeds splutter.

5. Add the sliced potatoes to kadhai and let them Cook to red brown.

6. Make a fine paste of green chilli,garlic,ginger and coriander in a grinder.Add this green paste to kadhai and let the give it a good mix until the masala cooks.

7. Add the leftover whole green chana which was not grinded with the chana lot.Add garam masala at this stage.

8. Add sliced tomatoes to the kadhai and cook until they are mushy.

9. Next add the green chana paste and mix it thoroughly.Add enough water so there is gravy to have with rice.

10. Add garam masala and the nimona is ready to serve with roti or rice.

Points to remember

• Urad bari is added to nimona after frying in oil
• If not using diced potatoes,use boiled ones to avoid much oil in the dish
• Green peas can be used insted of green chana.
• If serving with rice,the curry should be watery or running consistency.
• I tried using frozen peas also but the taste and flavour was different then.

Try this amazing desi curry at home, enjoy winters!