Chawli Usal
The Maharashtrian delicacy usal is a curried dish made with various legumes and lentils. It has many variations all across Maharashtra. Here’s the Chawli Usal recipe, a Konkan style version from my mother’s fabulous collection. This Chawli Usal is made with black eyed beans (chawli/lobia), is vegan and high on proteins apart from being delicious.
What is Usal
Both usal and misal are two very famous dishes in Maharashtrian cuisine. But, don’t get confused between them. Usal also called ‘oosal,’ is usually a curry made with legumes, lentils or sprouted beans.
Whereas, misal which means “mixture” in Marathi is the usal curry or rassa topped with onions, chiwda or farsan, sev, lemon juice, coriander leaves and optionally curd (yogurt). This entire delicious mix is served with soft and fluffy pav a.k.a dinner rolls.
Just like this Chawli Usal that has black eyed beans in it, other usal recipes may have lentils, peas, moong, moth beans or hyacinth bean sprouts as the main ingredient. These are then stir fried in a hot masala paste of onions and spices with little water.
According to the sprouts and their taste, the use of spices may vary. In addition to this Chawli Usal recipe, other usal recipes that you must give a try are Val Usal and Mixed Sprouts Usal. In case you want to try the misal recipe too, here it is for you – Misal Pav.
More on this Chawli Usal
We are a huge fan of this typical Konkan style Chawli Usal. In fact, we make a lot of other usal recipes with different legumes and lentils.
This Chawli Usal has black eyed beans cooked in a robust, roasted coconut-spices masala paste, so things really can’t go wrong here.
You can substitute the black eyed beans with moong or moth bean sprouts (matki), black chickpeas, whole masoor dal or tuvar dal, and still have a flavorful dish.
Depending on the level of heat you want, you can alter the quantity of red chili powder and garam masala powder in the recipe.
This dish is high on nutrition too because of the beans used in it. Pair the Chawli Usal with steamed rice, a refreshing Solkadi and salad of your choice, and relish some wholesome food. The spiciness of the usal is mellowed by the cooling kokum curry and makes for a perfect meal.
Chawli Usal also tastes awesome with pav (dinner rolls), chapati and phulka as well.
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Ingredients
Main ingredients
- ½ cup black eyed beans (chawli, lobia or rongi)
- 2.5 to 3 cups water – for pressure cooking beans
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ½ teaspoon Red Chili Powder or cayenne pepper
- ½ to 1 teaspoon Garam Masala or Malvani masala or goda masala
- 1 onion – small-sized, chopped or about ¼ cup chopped onions
- 1 tomato – medium-sized, chopped or about ½ cup chopped
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 cups water – to be added to the usal or add as needed
For masala curry paste
- ½ cup coconut – fresh, grated
- 2 tablespoons dessicated coconut – unsweetened
- 1 inch ginger – peeled and chopped
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves – small to medium-sized, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- ½ tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 onion – small-sized, chopped or about ¼ cup chopped onions
- 1 to 2 teaspoons oil
Instructions
Preparing the chawli (black eyed beans)
- Rinse a few times in fresh water. Then soak the beans overnight in enough water.
- Next day, drain the water. Rinse the beans again once or twice with water.
- Pressure cook the beans with a bit of salt in 2.5 to 3 cups water for 5 to 6 minutes or 4 to 5 whistles on medium heat or until they are soft and tender but not mushy. Since the beans are soaked, they will cook faster.
- When the pressure falls naturally in the cooker, then only open the lid. Take a few beans in a spoon and let them cool a bit.
- Press them with your fingers and they should mash easily. You can also taste them. If they are undercooked, then pressure cook for some more minutes.
- Drain the water and keep the cooked beans aside.
Making masala curry paste
- In a pan, heat oil. Add the chopped onions. Sauté until the onions soften.
- Now, add the chopped ginger and garlic and sauté for a minute on low heat.
- Add the fennel seeds and coriander seeds.
- Sauté for 1 minute or so or till the seeds start becoming crisp or are lightly browned.
- Add the fresh grated coconut along with the dessicated coconut.
- On a low heat, mix first and then roast the mixture till the coconut becomes golden brown. Stir often.
- Keep on stirring, so that the coconut does not burn. Let this mixture cool.
- Then, grind this coconut mixture in a small blender or mixer-grinder with some water.
Making chawli usal
- Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and sauté until they soften.
- Add the ground masala paste and sauté for a minute.
- Add chopped tomatoes and turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, salt along with the cooked black eyed beans.
- Stir to mix and add 2 cups water or as needed. Mix again.
- This usal has a medium consistency, but you can make it slightly thick if you prefer.
- Bring to a gentle boil without a lid and then simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Check the seasonings and add salt if needed.
- Once all the flavors are blended in the curry and you see some oil floating on the top, remove from heat.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve Chawli Usal hot with steamed rice, chapati or bread.
Notes
- Use beans which are in their shelf-life.
- You can make a spicy variation by adding green chillies to the curry or adding dry red chillies when roasting the coconut.
- You can also cook the beans in an Instant Pot or in a pan/pot on the stovetop adding water as required.
Nutrition
This Chawli Usal from the blog archives first published in April 2013 has been updated and republished on December 2022.
Tried it for the first time and it turned out amazing !
This is the second time i’m making this in a month! Beautiful flavors! I love your recipes because you simplify them with steps…so even a difficult recipe seems easy on your blog…I’ve tried so many of your recipes and all of them turn out good…..this is definately going into my recipe book as a favorite. This is my go to website for recipes from now on.
very pleased to know this yogita 🙂 thanks for your kind words and positive feedback. god bless you.
My mother’s recipe is much simpler. She prepares a tadka of hing and rai. When they stop sputtering she adds the soaked chawli, haldi, salt,chili powder and some jaggery, stir the mixture, then add a little water, cover and cook on medium flame for about ten to fifteen minutes until the water evaporates and the beans are soft. Garnish with grated coconut and cilantro.
We are maharashtrians, by the way so the above recipe must be maharashtrian. I just made this for lunch today and will eat it with phulkas
thankyou for sharing this information madhav 🙂
Hi, can you tell me, what is unsweeteened dessicated coconut?
Can I prepare this without that?
fairy, dessicated coconut is dried coconut flakes. you can use fresh coconut instead of dessicated coconut. it is needed as its an essential ingredient.
What if I don’t have fresh coconut? I only have dry desiccated.
vrinda, you can use desiccated coconut. use the same amount.
Thank you very much .perfect measure of ingredients instruction.one can never wrong vith r tips.visiting ur website gvs me immense joy.indeed a stress buster.
welcome rema. thanks for this positive and sweet feedback. good to know this. cooking is indeed a creative activity.
Hi Dassana,
I must mention that whichever of your recipes I have tried all have turned awesumilicious.My husband loves to eat out of my hand now….hee heee….keepp posting ur excellent well described recipes….love your work….success to you always!!!
Sunny
thanks sunny for this positive feedback and your best wishes. loved reading your sweet feedback. keep visiting the site.
I always wanted to make chawli but never got a correct recipe.I do follow ur recipes and tried this one too and as usual it was perfect.I am loving food prepared by myself these days.its all because of ur recipe.
I dared inviting my husband colleague after going thru ur website and they too liked food being prepared after going thru ur recipes.
thank you very much.
welcome vasanti. glad to know that everyone is enjoying the food cooked by you. keep visiting the site.
Hi, tried this recipe for dinner and it came out very well. The flavour of fennel and coriander with roasted coconut is awesome. Omitted the garam masala as I felt that it would interfere with the flavour. I would suggest boiling the soaked chawli rather than pressure cooking to prevent it from becoming mushy. I just soaked it for an hour and then boiled it on low heat for half an hour. You can chop the vegetables needed and get the masala ready by this time. Thank you for posting such a wonderful recipe.
thanks shruthi. boiling is better but if for a quicker method, pressure cooking is better. if the pressure cooking is done properly, then the chawli does not become mushy. but this comes from experience. so for a newbie, its better to boil the chawli.
Looks very appetizing. Want to try.
This looks terrific! Pinning now.
Love the recipes you send and have been trying it to quiet ggod . Want to know as to how you make gud masala. thank you
you mean goda masala?
Wonderful recipe, looks and sounds amazing 🙂 perfect comforting food!
looks delicious, dassana! 🙂
i love lobia!