Black chickpea and coconut curry (Kadala)

This dish is from the south Indian state of Kerala, whose name literally means "land of coconuts". It's a lush, tropical place teeming with life and quite a lot of coconuts too which end up in a lot of the cuisine there because they're virtually free. Fancy a coconut? Just nip up the nearest tree and there you are.

This Keralan black chickpea curry is considered to be a breakfast dish by the locals. I ate mine in the evening. I hope no one minds...

There's quite a bit of chilli in this recipe - it's a feisty little number! The coconut gives a mellow sweetness and the rest of the ingredients round off the flavour.

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 2 zl (40 UK pence, 48 Euro cents, 64 US cents)

You'll need:

- 1/2 coconut (grated)
- 1 tomato (chopped)
- 5-6 dry red chillies
- 1-2 green chillies
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 inch ginger (minced)
- 2 medium onions (finely chopped)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1-2 inch cinnamon
- 10 cardamon pods
- 6 cloves
- 1 tsp pepper corns
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- a smattering of curry leaves
- 1 cup of cooked or tinned black chick peas
- coconut oil for cooking

How does this play out?

1. Cook the dried black chick peas until soft (2-3 hours). Or just buy a can from an Asian store or Kuchnia Świata (if in Poland)

2. Drill a hole in the top of the coconut and drain out the water into a glass. Crack the coconut with a hammer. Bash the shell off the two sections with the hammer then cut off the brown skin from around the outside as if you were peeling an orange. It's tricky at fist but you'll get used to it! Whizz up the white flesh in a blender to make a coarse powder.

3. Soak the dried red chillies for at least 30 minutes in the coconut water (don't be scared by the number of chillies here - I used them for a number of recipes, not only this one!).

4. Make the Kerala garam masala by dry roasting the whole spices for a minute and then grind in a coffee grinder till you have a fine powder. Use 1/2 tsp of this mix in step 6.

5. Prep the rest of the ingredients. Remove the chillies from the coconut water. Use 5-6 of them here.

6. Hot pan and a little oil. Add the chillies, the coconut, the tomato, 1/2 tsp of the Kerala garam masala, the coriander and turmeric powder. Cook for around 5 minutes.

7. Grind down this mixture in a coffee grinder to get as smooth a paste as you can muster

8. Prep the final ingredients

9. Oil in a hot pan. Use coconut oil if you can get it. Mustard seeds in. Snap crackle and pop. Onions in and curry leaves. Add the green chillies and ginger/ garlic paste when the pinions start to brown slightly. Cook out the rawness.

10. Add the paste. Thin with water. Add the black chickpeas. Cook down for around 10-15 minutes. Season with salt.

11. You're good to go! Serve with rice

Cost:

- Chickpeas: 2 zl
- Coconut: 1 zl
- Rice: 2.40 zl
- Tomato: 0.50 zl
- The rest: 2.10 zl

Total: 8 zl
Serves: 4
Per person: 2 zl