Tadke Wala Chana Dal - तडके वाला चना दाल (Tempered Split Chickpea Dal)

Hello friends,


First of all I apologize to all the bloggers whom I follow, as I haven't been able to visit any blogs in past 1 week, so please don't think I am ignoring anyone. I also would like to apologize my readers as I haven't been posting as often as I used to in last few weeks due to few reasons. 


One you already know from my last post that my friend's husband was sick and we wanted to help them in any way we could. Thanks to all your wishes, doctors finally doctors diagnosed that he had Collitis (so, the good part is not the diagnosis, but the fact that they figured out finally what was causing all the pain in his stomach), so now, he got discharged as of last evening from the hospital and is on this path of successful recovery. 


Second reason was that since last Saturday my older one Aryan got cold and then since Tuesday evening, my little one (who turned one yesterday) had his very first cold and due to which a light grade fever. Older one is thankfully a lot better and little one will take may be one more day to get little better.


Yesterday was my little one - Atharv's first birthday. We did not do anything much due to his sickness. He, being himself was of course acting all normal, just running nose and light fever, but was refusing anything to eat or drink, so I just made some traditional Rice Pudding (which thankfully he did eat a few spoonfuls as he loves it). We had baked a small pound cake the previous evening (cake mix), so we cut that. Wanted to go to temple, but then unfortunately, the temple that was the closest to us was closed and we didn't want to take the sick baby too far. I didn't want to make something lavish in the evening as kids were refusing to eat everything anyways. So, finally, while I went to buy something, N ordered pizza and we enjoyed that with the cake for dinner. 


Anyways, that was kind of a gist of my last few days. Now, coming to today's recipe, I had made it on a small get-together on Saturday. I love chana dal that is made in East India reception parties (Specially in my hometown) to go along with pulav and pooris. So, here is kind of my twist on it as I like to have tadka (tempering) on any dal.


Tadke Wala Chana Dal - तडके वाला चना दाल (Tempered Split Chickpea Dal)

Ingredients
Chana Dal (Split Chick Peas) - 1 cup, washed and drained
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Whole Garam Masala
Dalchini (Cinnamon stick) - 1 inch piece
Badi Ilaichi (Black Cardamom) - 2
Laung (Cloves) - 4-5
Tej Patta (Dry Bay Leaves) - 2
Dry Masala Powders
Lal Mirch (Red Chili) Powder - 1 tsp
Haldi (Turmeric Powder) - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
For Tempering

Ginger - 1 inch piece grated or thinly sliced (based on your preference)

Garlic - 4-5 big cloves, minced or finely chopped (based on your preference)

Onion - 1, finely chopped

Tomato - 1, finely chopped

Dry Red Chillies - 2-3, broken in 1 inch pieces

Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tsp

Rai (Mustard Seeds) - 1 tsp

Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 1 tbsp (Feel free to use any oil or butter)
Cilantro - finely chopped for garnishing

Preparation

• Take a heavy bottomed cooker. Cooker is best as it takes a while to cook chana dal.
• Take oil in it and let it be hot.
• Add all under "Whole Garam Masala" to it and fry till nice aroma comes.
• Add drained dal to it along with dry masalas and stir fry just for 2 min.
• Add grated coconut and mix for another min.
• Add about 5 cups of water and close the lid and cook for about 20 min. or till dal is well cooked (not mushy, but just well cooked). Take it out in a serving bowl.
• Once the dal is cooked, let's prepare the tempering.
• Take a non-stick pan and add ghee to it.
• Once the ghee is hot, add both the seeds and dry red chili pieces from the "For Tempering" section.
• Once the seeds start spluttering, add ginger and garlic to it and fry fry for about a min, do not let garlic burn.
• Add finely chopped onion to it and fry till onions are translucent.
• Add chopped tomato and fry for 2-3 min. don't let your tomatoes turn mushy.
• Now, add the tempering in the serving bowl and sprinkle cilantro on the top and immediately close the lid. This is to let the tempering flavors get in well :). I wanted to take the picture with tadka on top, but my husband had mixed it already before I could say no ;)

Serving
Serve it hot with either any kind of pulao or nice warm pooris.


I am sending this to Susan's MLLA # 27.

That's all for now, take care till post.