Chana Gashi

This dish is traditionally made with brown chana. With a large number of kids at the event, I decided to substitute with chick peas which is more kid friendly.
I initially thought 4 cans of jack-fruit would be a little too much. But by the end of the evening, all the jack-fruit pieces were fished out and I had about 2 cups of curry left with just chick peas!

Ingredients:

3 lbs whole chana (chick peas/garbanzo)
4 cans kadgi (raw jack-fruit)
1 1/2 packet frozen grated coconut (I used daily delight 1lb pack)
24-30 roasted red chilies (I use Byadgi)
marble size tamarind
salt to taste
oil
9 tsp black mustard seeds
9 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
30 curry leaves

How its made:

Soak chana overnight. Pressure cook in 3 batches.
In a blender, blend 1/2 packet of grated coconut with 8-10 red chilies (adjust chilies as per spice level) along with a piece of tamarind. Grind with warm water until smooth.
In the meantime, drain and discard liquid from jack-fruit. Cut into smaller pieces. Cook jack-fruit for 8-10 minutes or until soft.
In a large heavy bottom pot, combine first batch of cooked chana with 1/3 of cooked jack-fruit and ground masala. Add salt and cook together for 10-15 minutes.
In a "phanna davlo" or iron skillet, heat oil. Add 3 tsp mustard seeds. When it splutters, add 3 tsp jeera and 10 curry leaves. Season to chana with jack-fruit. Cover and set aside.
Repeat the same process twice. Each batch fills one small aluminum disposable tray and this recipe yields 3 trays.

Serves: 60-80 people