kelichana

Kelichana is a popular snack of Manipur – it is sold at the ubiquitous  ’potphams’  (small road side stalls). Wrapped in la (plantain leaf) or thamna (lotus leaf), garnished with maroi (chives), tuningkhok (don’t know the English or scientific name for this), spicy hot – this snack is an all time favourite of mine.

The name is misleading – this dish does not contain chana but manggan (yellow peas). I have heard that it was named after the lady who first sold it – Keli. I don’t know why it is called kelichana instead of keli-manggan. But  keli-manggan sounds unappetising!! Kelichana is very similar to ghugni – the Bengali dish.

It brings back memories of evenings at home having hot kelichana with tea. There used to be a lady who sold kelichana near our house and almost every evening, my sister was ‘forced’ to go buy and it. And sometimes, the lady would not have finished cooking and my poor sister had to wait. At times, she would come back with half-cooked kelichana but we still ate it with relish!

Ema makes the best kelichana ever. I remember her preparing kelichana so we could take it to school – enough for almost half the class to feast on!

This recipe comes from my mother dear.

Kelichana

Things you need:

2 cups yellow peas (manggan) – soaked overnight

1 onion – finely chopped

Chives – chopped (optional)

Turmeric powder – 1/2 to 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder – 1 or more teaspoon, depending on how spicy you want it.  Alternatively, you could use chopped green chillies

Oil

Salt – to taste

What you have to do:

Wash the soaked yellow peas. In a pressure cooker, add`about 1 cup of water, salt and the peas and cook for two whistles. I prefer the kelichana to be a bit mushy rather than the ‘crunchier’ kind. You could also use the microwave – but i find that the variety of yellow peas we get here takes about 30 minutes to cook in the microwave – a waste of time and energy so I prefer the cooker.

Heat oil in a wok. When it is hot, put in the chopped onion. When the onion becomes tender, put in the tumeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and mix well. Fry till the masala is cooked. Now put in the boiled yellow peas along with the water it has been boiled in. Cover and cook till the water has been absorbed. Note that you might not need to put in any more salt as it was added while boiling the peas – but taste and adjust accordingly.

Garnish with chopped chives and/or onion. Goes well with a hot cup of tea or a chilled glass of apple juice.