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Zucchini Channa Poriyal/Palya/Subzi

Living in a small town, I don’t have access to a lot of Indian veggies. But that is kind of good actually, once I get over my initial reaction of – ” Oh my god! The same vegetables again this week!” I have to genuinely try to cook veggies differently to stop myself from getting bored of the same food 😀 Last week that repeat vegetable was zucchini – hence this recipe is up on the blog!

This is a brand new recipe – combining channa with zucchini. Incidentally in a lot of south indian veggie preparations I do try this out – tindora with channa or beans with channa. But I had never tried this combination and it actually works really well!

I just pan-cooked zucchini for a few minutes so that it is still crunchy. Overcooking can definitely make the dish very watery and taste bland. So the soft channa actually  contrasts the crunch from the zucchini! I think both channa and zucchini generally taste better when they are spiced up really well – I have used a combination of lentiles, peanuts, green chillies and ground up spices to make this dish work well! Feel free to experiment with the seasonings 🙂

Also, if this is the first time you are on my blog, do check out the other zucchini recipes as well: Zucchini Aloo Jeera, Brown Lentils and Zucchini Stew, Zucchini and Cucumber Stir Fry, and Zucchini Yogurt Dip.

Zucchini Channa Poriyal/Palya/Zubzi

  • 3 large zucchinis
  • 1 can of chickpeas ((if you are using dried channa, refer to notes for details))
  • 1 green chilli
  • 1 tbsp channa dal
  • 1 tbsp urad dal
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
  • 2 tsp oil
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • a pinch of hing
  1. Chop the zucchini into bite sized pieces. Don’t chop them too small as then there is a high chance of the zucchini getting overcooked.

  2. Heat oil in a less deep saucepan. (this way all the zucchini pieces will be in touch with the surface of the pan and cook faster/retain crunch better)

  3. Add the peanuts, channa dal and ural dal to the oil and let it turn a golden brown. Add the cumin seeds, chopped green chilli, and hing to this as well. 

  4. Now add the chopped zucchini to this and sprinkle some salt and water. Without closing the lid of the pan, let the veggies cook on medium high heat for 8-10 minutes. Be careful to check on this frequently so as to not over cook the zucchini.

  5. Then drain the chickpeas from the can and add it to the cooked zucchini. Add turmeric and chilli powder and mix well 

  6. Cook the poriyal for 4-5 minutes just to heat up the channa. Serve hot with rice or chapathi! 

If you are using dried channa, soak about 1/3 cup of channa overnight. Pressure cook with 1 cup water and some salt for 3-4 whistles. Then drain the cooked channa and add it to the zucchini in step 5.

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