Dal Banjari - दाल बंजारी (Simple and Spiced Cooked Lentils) - Blogging Marathon # 5

Hello Friends,


This is my first time participating in blogging Marathon # 5 which was started by Srivalli. I am thankful to her for making me part of this event.


I felt in last few weeks and months that I have not been posting as many Rajasthani recipes as I first intended to. So, I picked the theme "Seven Days of Regional Special" and picked Rajasthan as my region (of course, obviously, right ? :)


In the series, I will be posting 7 recipes every single day from today till Sunday. The first one in this series is called Dal Banjari. I used this recipe as source.


There was a question about similarity of this to Dal Makhani. So, wanted to mention here is that there is a basic difference in both. Of course Dal Makhani has added cream, but other than that, Dal Makhani is a combo of "Whole Black Urad Dal and Red Kidney Beans", but Dal Banjari is a combo of "Whole Black Urad Dal and Split Bengal Gram Dal". Hope that helps :)

Dal Banjari - दाल बंजारी (Simple and Spiced Cooked Lentils)

Ingredients
Sabut Urad Dal (Whole Black Gram )Lentils - 1 cup washed and drained
Chana Dal (Split Yellow Gram Dal) - 1/2 cup washed and drained
Onion -  1 cup, sliced
Ginger - Garlic paste -  tbsp
Green Chili - 1/2 tbsp, finely chopped or paste
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Haldi (Turmeric Powder) - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Tempering
Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 4-5
Dry Red Chilies - 2-3
Garnishing
Cilantro - finely chopped
Ginger - thin strips
Preparation

• Cook both the dals with haldi and salt. till both the dals are cooked well (but not mashed).
• Heat ghee in a non-stick or heavy bottomed pan and once hot, add the tempering material, till nice aroma comes from it.
• Add sliced onion and fry till onion is translucent and golden brown
• Add everything else except cooked dal and let it fry for another 2 minutes
• Now add cooked dal along with any water that was left after cooking and little more. Overall, about 1.5 cups of water.
• Boil it for 4-5 minutes and then let it simmer to reach your desired consistency. I didn't have to cook any extra than boiling and was good enough for me.
• Now, garnish with cilantro and ginger strips and serve hot.

Serving
Serve with roti/paratha or even hot rice along with some plain yogurt or some raita :)


Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Kalyani, Priya Mahadevan, Suma  
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Priya Suresh,Veena,  
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Shylaja, Srivalli  
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Priya Yallapantula  
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast:Aarthi, Vaishali


That's all for now. Take care till next post.