Gassi is a curry made with a fresh blend of spices along with a sweet flavor of coconut and jaggery. It is a truly unique curry with its distinctive taste and ingredients.
About this recipe
Growing up in South India, this curry is very near and dear to me. In my opinion, this is an ideal recipe if you are looking for a unique way to cook with Chickpeas. I agree to be sent email.
By nature, this curry has a thick texture and makes it great to pair with neer dosa, steamed rice, or phulka rotis. One great thing about this curry is that it stays good longer than most curries. I have made enough to last for a couple of days. I plan to pair it with rice for the first day and rotis on the second day. When you try this recipe, be sure to soak the chickpeas in water for at least six hours unless you plan on using canned chickpeas.
Ingredients notes
Cabbage: Use fresh green cabbage with no wilted leaves. You will need about cups of chopped cabbage for this recipe. Depending on the size of the cabbage, you may only need part of it.Grated coconuts: If you are using frozen grated coconut, be sure to thaw it before blending to avoid coconut oil from separating. You could also use freshly grated coconuts.Spices: Split-back gram/urad dal, cumin seeds/jeera, and red chilies form the main set of spices for this recipe. This combination of spices blended with coconut is what gives the unique “Gassi” flavor. Chickpeas: I used dry chickpeas cooked with Instant Pot for this recipe, but it is also perfectly fine to use canned chickpeas (without water). If you are not able to get chickpeas, one good alternative is to use black-eyed peas.
Step by step directions
First, be ready with the cooked Chickpeas. In my dish, I cooked the chickpeas in Instant Pot. Check this recipe here if you need instructions for that. Alternatively, you could use canned Chickpeas too. Once the chickpeas are cooked drain all the water and place them aside to cool down.
Common Questions
Expert tips
Try the same recipe with different vegetable combinations like potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, or peas.If you like more flavor add cinnamon and cloves while sauteeing spices and blend them with coconuts. I prefer the gassi recipe without the additional spices though.Instead of chickpeas, you could use cooked blackeyed peas, peas, and red kidney beans.If you prefer your gassi thinner add ½ - 1 cup of water while boiling with coconut paste.If you like to have your curry in a bright red color without the heat, you could use ‘byadagi’ red chilies or Kashmiri red chilies. Otherwise, any type of chilies is okay to use. Be sure to adjust our spice levels based on how hot the chilies are and how spicy you prefer your Gassi to be.
More related recipes
Just subscribe to my newsletter for more delicious vegan recipes such as this sent directly to your inbox. Add the blended coconut paste and continue to stir.
📖 Recipe
UPDATE NOTE: This recipe was originally published in November 2017. It was updated on July 2021, with new photos and text.
