Chana Dal
Chana dal is one of the staple foods in India. It is also known as Bengal
gram.Yellow chana dal has slightly sweet taste and nutty flavor. Chana dal is a very versatile it is cooked with different combination of lentils and vegetables like lauki (Bottle gourd) and different tadka is added to dal to enhance the flavor.
Chana dal has a lovely aroma and it absorbs the flavors of the spices really well. This dal does not boil down to mush that is one of the reasons it is often cooked with urad dal. Chana dal is also used for tampering and cooking meat dishes like shammi kebabs. Chana dal is delicious and have very low glycemic index.
Ingredients for Dal:
1 Cup Chana dal
½ Teaspoon turmeric powder
1 Teaspoon salt or to your taste
4 Cups of water
Ingredients for onion tomato tadka:
1 Medium onion – chopped
1 Medium ripe tomato – chopped
into small pieces
1 Teaspoon minced Garlic (optional) 1 Medium green chili – chopped 2 Tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (Optional)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Ingredients for cumin seed tadka:
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Pinch of Asafetida (Hing)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil 
Ingredients for hot chili tadka:
2 Teaspoons crushed red chilies or red
chili powder
2 Tablespoons melted butter or ghee
Cooking measurement conversion
Measurement converter
Directions for cooking the Chana Dal:
1. In a pressure cooker add Chana Dal and wash, changing water several times until the water appears clear and then soak Dal in 4 cups of water for 15 to 20 minutes or longer. More soaking will not hurt.
Add Chana dal in Pressure cooker
Add water in Dal & soak
2. Once dals are soaked rinse the water out and wash . Add 4 cups of water, turmeric powder, salt and 1 teaspoon of oil and mix. When dal is boiling it creates lot of foam and the foam comes out from pressure cooker to prevent that it is a good idea to add little oil.
3. Close the lid of the pressure cooker, place the weight on the lid and cook on medium heat.
Rinse and wash Dal
Add water in soaked Dal
Add Turmeric powder & salt & mix
Close the pressure cooker
4. In about 8 to 10 minutes pressure cooker will start steaming, turn the heat down and cook for 10 to 12 mintes. Turn the stove off and wait untill steam goes down.
Different brand of cooker require different time to cook.
5. While dal is cooking prepare cumin seed and onion tomato tadka and keep them aside.(see below for tadka directions)
Open the pressure cooker
Check if Dal become tender
6. Open the pressure cooker. Turn the stove on to medium heat, with the cooking spoon mix dal well so that there are no lumps, add more water if need.
7. Chana Dal does not mush it stay little grainy. Add onion Tomato tadka and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
8. Add cumin seed tadka and cook for 1 minute, turn the stove off or until you have the desired consistency. Turn the stove off.
9. When ready to serve, if you like add chopped Coriander leaves and transfer dal in a serving bowl and pour hot chili tadka over Dal. (See below for chili tadka)
Mix Chana Dal well
Add onion & tomato tadka and mix
Mix Tadka with Dal
Add Cumin Seed Tadka
Mix Cumin Tadka
Chana Dal is ready
Add chopped Coriander Leaves
Chana Dal
Tips:
1. Use pressure cooker for cooking dal, otherwise it takes too long to cook dal.
2. If you wish you can skip onion tomato tadka or any other tadka and alter Dal
to your taste.
3. You can also cook chana dal with lauki (Bottle guard)
Direction for onion tomato tadka: (Tadka)
1. Heat small frying pan, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, slice onions and and sauté them on medium high heat for 5 to 6 minutes or until onions become light brown, while frequently stirring them.
2. In about 5 to 6 minutes onions will become light brown.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and chopped green chilies and cook, with the spatula try to mash the tomatoes so that they become soft quickly. In about 5 to 6 minutes tomatoes will become soft and blend with onions. Turn the stove off.
Directions for cumin seed tadka: (Tadka)
1. In a small pan (tadka pan) add 1 tablespoon oil, cumin seeds and asafetida and fry them for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat or until cumin seeds become brown. Turn the stove off.
Directions for hot chili tadka: (Hot oil) (Tadka)
1. In a small pan (tadka pan) heat 2 tablespoons ghee or melted butter add crushed red chilies or red chili powder and fry them on very low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the red chilies fried, turn the heat off.
Variation in tadka
Tadkas enhance the flavor of dal, try different kinds of tadka or customize it to your own taste. Instead of adding tomatoes you can add only onion tadka to the dal for variations.
Ingredients:
1 Medium onion- chopped length wise
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Direction for caramelized onion tadka: (Tadka)
1. Heat a frying pan, add sliced onions and 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté them for 7 to 8 minutes on medium high heat or until onions become dark brown, while stirring constantly.Turn the stove off.
2. After cooking dal add cumin seed and caramelized onion tadka and cook for five minutes or until you have desired consistency of Dal.
Add cumin seed tadka
Add onion tadka and mix
Please take the time to let me know what you think about my recipe. Your comments would be helpful to me to improve the recipe.
Thank you
Geeta Seth
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