Channa Palak Dal

Most of the daal/lentils cooked in Indian way is in curry form or lets say liquid state. I have hardly come across any dry or semi dry Indian style dal or lentils; until one day when I visited my friend in Bristol. She cooked Channa Dal with Spinach and served it as a side subji. I was hooked. 

Apparently Channa Palak Dal is very popular is many parts of india, just that I had it for the first time. Channa is also known as chole or chickpeas but this isn't that channa. It is chana dal or split bengal gram as known in English. 

Cooking with spinach is not easy, cleaning the spinach with good amount of water is so important. So, whenver you cook with spinach make sure that rubbish clearance is done well, select only the good leaves. The dish is loaded with iron, minerals, proteins and what not. Palak/spinach gives this dal a green-healthy twist. Other ingredients like garlic, ginger, tomato brings up the taste value too. If you are bored having same staple tuar or moong dal then you have to try this.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup channa dal (soaked for atleast 4-5 hours)

2 cups palak/spinach

1 large tomato, chopped finely

4 cloves garlic, grated

1 tablespoon ginger paste

2 tablespoon oil

1/4 teaspoon hing/aseofetida

1 tej patta/bay leaf

2 whole red chilles

1 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon akka dhaniya/coriander seeds, crushed slightly

1/2 teaspoon haldi/turmeric powder

1 teaspoon dhaniya/ coriander powder

Red chilli powder, to taste

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon ghee

1 teaspoon kasuri methi

Method:

In a kadai heat oil. When oil is hot, add hing, jeera, tej patta, whole red chilies and coriender seeds. Saute for 5 seconds. Turn the flame to low.

Now add chopped garlic and ginger paste. Saute for 1 minute.

Add chopped tomato. Mix in salt, haldi, red chilli powder and coriender powder. Add half cup of water. Mix. Cover and cook for 5 minutes ot till tomatoes are soft.

Add channa dal now. Add 1 glass of water. Cook covered. On a low flame let the daal cook. Keep an eye on water quantity-you do not want dal to be over cooked or turn mashy.

Add in palak. Mix. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. 

You know dal is cooked when you press a grain between your thumb and finger it should mash easily.

Mix in ghee and kasturi methi before you serve.

Notes:

If you forgot to soak the channa dal, I would suggest to boil it separately in an open for at least 20 minutes.

Marwadi/Rajasthani Methi Moong Dal, Lentils With Fenugreek Leaves

Dal-roti or dal-chawal is the staple Indian food. No matter what religion you follow, no matter what and how much you earn, no matter if you are a non vegetarian or not- one thing that every Indian love is daal. Again, there are many types of daal and many ways to make each one of it but no one can ever get over with their love for lentils. Lunch or dinner, served in party as well as on a daily basis- the fact is no Indian meal is complete without daal. For vegetarians eating daal is more important as it the only healthy source of proteins for them, ofcourse after paneer.

As said, there are many ways of preparing daal and if not thousand there are atleast hundred recipes to make it. Be it very simple yellow daal that can be relished with plain rice, or another version of the same dal but made in microwave. Or you might fancy- Lehsuni daal tadka which is infused with strong garlic flavours and is a perfect match for jowar ki roti. If runny and smooth dal is not your preference then you must have Massala Dal which contains whole grains of lentils and is quite dry- a must have with jeera rice.

Having said that, today I bring before you my favorite dal recipe which is very healthy as it includes green leafy vegetable- interesting isn't it? I am talking about Marwadi/Rajasthani Methi Moong Dal. This daal is thick and smooth flavoured with chopped fenugreek/methi leaves, spiced up with green chillies and a final tang is given by sprinkle of lemon juice. The idea is to have dark yellow colour with only green bits visible, and that is why the recipe doesn't call for tomato or even red chilli powder.

If you ever visit Rajasthan or a marwadi family over lunch or dinner during winters, you will surely find this dal in the menu. Reason?? Well, methi leaves are available in abundance throughout the winters and the usage of it crafts the boring moong daal to be very appealing and appetizing. One fine day, when it was raining really bad and the temperatures went down, I craved for this daal. Remember my tip on how to preserve/store fresh methi leaves?- well I used the same leaves to make this daal- who wants to wait till winters??

This daal is really thick and you have to enjoy this with parathas or rotis. All you need is dollop of ghee, some marwadi lehsun ki chutney and bajre ki roti to make it perfect meal.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yellow moong dal/split yellow gram

1/4 cup chopped methi leaves/fenugreek leaves

2-3 green chillies/hari mirch

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste/adrak lenhsun

1 tablespoon lemon/juice nimbu ka ras

1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi

Pinch aseofetida/hing

1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter

1 tablespoon oil

2 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves/dhaniya

Salt to taste

Method:

In a pressure cooker, add moong daal with 1 cup water, turmeric and salt. Cook till 2 whistles releases.

In kadai/wok heat 1/2 tablespoon of ghee and 1 tablespoon of oil. When hot, add in hing and jeera.

Also add in ginger garlic paste, cook till raw smell fades away. Mix in green chillies and methi leaves. Cook till methi leaves becomes mushy.

Finally mix in cooked daal and lemon juice. Mix and let it boil.

Serve with dollop of remaining ghee and chopped coriander leaves.

Notes:

I have shared authentic marwadi way of making this daal. If you want you can gram massala, tomatoes and even chopped onion.

Some people don't like chopped methi leaves, in that case puree methi leaves and that add. Doing so, will make the dal look green, but there will be no change in the taste.

For better results, it is advisable to soak moong dal for 30 minutes in the water before cooking.

Serving suggestions:

This is smooth but a thick daal, so serve this with thick rotis- like jowar or bajre ki roti.

For thali menu- serve it with roti, kachumber salad, bharwa bhindi and lehsun ki chutney.

Daal Masala

Surprisingly, I never tasted or had Dal Masala in India; I had it last Sunday in London and I loved it because it was very different from all the dals that I had till date. Dals cooked in most of the houses is of liquid consistency but Dal Masala is a thick dal with different flavours.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup yellow moong dal (split yellow gram)
• 1/3 cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
• 1/3 cup urad dal (split black lentils)
• 1/3 cup toovar (arhar) dal
• 3 onions, grated
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsp ghee
• salt to taste
• chopped coriander (dhania)
• 5 cloves of garlic (lehsun)
• 2 tsp coriander (dhania) seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander (dhania)
• 8 whole dry kashmiri red chillies
• 25 mm. piece ginger (adrak)
• 3 sticks cinnamon (dalchini)
• 3 black peppercorns
• 3 cloves (laung / lavang)

Method

1.   Wash all the dals together and soak for an hour

2.   Then boil dal in a deep pan with 4 cups of water till is done.

3.   Take garlic,coriander seeds, cumin, turmeric, dry red chilli, ginger, cinnamon, peppercorns and laung and make a fine paste in the blender.

4.   Heat the ghee and fry the onions till it becomes light pink in colour.

5.   Add the paste(made in step 3) and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

6.   Slowly add the tomatoes and fry again till it leaves oil.

7.   Then Add the cooked dals and salt.

8.   Cook it covered till it boils.

9.    Garnish with coriander.

Serve hot with Rice or Bread.