Chavlichi Usal

Maharashtrian cowpeas in a thin gravy of browned onion, dry coconut, and goda masala, soured with kokum and rounded with jaggery

Origin: Pune & Maharashtra

From the journey of Cowpea.

Usal is the Marathi name for a family of dishes of whole pulses, often sprouted, cooked in a gravy that is somewhere between a curry and a stew, and it is one of the foundations of the everyday Maharashtrian meal. Chavlichi usal is made with chavli, the cowpea, and the version of the Desh, the plateau country around Pune, takes its character from goda masala, the Marathi spice blend in which coriander seed, sesame, and dry coconut are roasted dark with cinnamon, cloves, and dagad phool, the lichen called stone flower, which gives it a smoky, faintly sweet depth. Kokum, the dried rind of Garcinia indica, sours the gravy, and a little jaggery balances it, as Maharashtrian cooks like. On the Konkan coast the same pulse is cooked with a paste of fresh coconut instead. It is eaten with bhakri, the flatbread of jowar or bajri, or with chapatis and rice, and it is as ordinary as dal. It is also very old food. The earliest secure evidence of the cowpea anywhere in the Indian subcontinent comes from Daimabad, a Chalcolithic settlement on the Pravara river in what is now Maharashtra, from levels dated to about 1500–1200 BCE.

Ingredients

Beans

  • 200 g dried cowpeas (chavli), red or black-eyed, soaked for 6 to 8 hours

Masala Paste

  • 1 onion, finely chopped and divided in two
  • 3 tbsp grated dry coconut (kopra)
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 cm piece of ginger

Gravy

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 0.5 tsp mustard seeds
  • 0.25 tsp asafoetida
  • 8 curry leaves
  • 1 tomato, chopped (optional)
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1.5 tsp goda masala
  • 3 pieces of dried kokum, soaked in 3 tbsp warm water
  • 1 tbsp grated jaggery
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste

To Finish

  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method

  1. Drain the cowpeas and cook them in 500 ml of fresh water with a pinch of salt, for 3 whistles in a pressure cooker or 40 to 50 minutes in a covered pan, until tender but still whole. Keep the cooking water.
  2. In a small pan, fry half the onion in 1 teaspoon of the oil until well browned. Add the dry coconut and roast, stirring, until golden. Grind with the garlic, ginger, and 4 tablespoons of water to a smooth paste.
  3. Heat the rest of the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and, when they crackle, the asafoetida, curry leaves, and remaining onion. Fry until the onion is soft.
  4. Add the tomato, if using, and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the turmeric, chilli powder, and goda masala and cook for 30 seconds.
  5. Add the ground paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until the oil begins to separate from it.
  6. Add the cowpeas with enough of their cooking water, about 400 ml in all, to make a thin gravy. Add the kokum with its soaking water, the jaggery, and the salt, and simmer for 10 minutes.
  7. Scatter with coriander and serve with bhakri, chapatis, or rice.

Notes

Goda masala is sold in Indian grocers and is not interchangeable with garam masala, which is hotter and lacks the roasted coconut and sesame. Kokum can be replaced with a teaspoon of tamarind pulp, though the colour and the sourness will be different. Tinned black-eyed peas, rinsed, need only 5 minutes in the gravy.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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