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.

Chholar Dal from Kichu Khon

Hello Friends,


I have been meaning to make this for a while. I am not sure how many of you have ever visited Kolkata. If you have not then here is the info for you. If you have, I am sure you already know about it. On Kolkata street, usually early in the morning (around breakfast time), you get a famous combo called "Loochi Ar Chholar Dal" meaning Poori (Fried Indian Bread) with Chana Dal (Bengal Gram Preparation). I have enjoyed it thoroughly and it is absolutely one of my favorite breakfast to have. But, yesterday, we actually enjoyed it as a dinner.

Usually, I prepare Bengal Gram dal as Tadke Wala Chana Dal and have been dying to try this recipe from Sharmila. If you haven't checked out her blog, please do so now. I have used the same recipe as hers except for adding Paanch-Phoran (as I like that flavor) to the tempering along with other things. It came out beautifully and I licked my fingers and wanted to eat more even after I was full :) I have used her recipe of Chholar Dal as it is, so not repeating the details here. Please visit her blog to check out her details. It is really easy to prepare and quick too :)


I am sending this to Aipi and mine Bookmarked Recipe - Every Tuesday (Volume 39) event and my Flavors of Bengal event start by Nayna.
 

I am also sending to MLLA # 34 hosted by Desi Soccer Mom and started by Susan.

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

Guajarati Dal from Sukham Ayu for ICC

Hello friends,


I know I am probably the last one posting this. I missed last 2 Indian Cooking Challenge, so had to do this one as I love this dal. My picture is not so great due to using store bought tamarind pulp (forgot to soak fresh tamarind and compromised with store bought, so, the color is darker), but let me tell you that the taste wasn't compromised :)


Gujarati Dal (from Sukham Ayu)

Ingredients
Split red gram (Toor dal) ½ cup
Turmeric powder ½ tsp 
Tamarind pulp 2 tbsp
Jaggery 1-3 tsp, as per preference
Yam 4-5 pieces, 1 inch cubes
Groundnuts 1 tbsp
Green chillies 2, slit 
Ginger 1 inch piece, chopped fine
Coriander powder 2 tsp 
Cumin powder 1 tsp 
Garam masala (refer tip, p. 49) ¼ tsp
Coriander leaves to garnish
Powdered rock salt to taste
The tempering 
Cow's ghee (Clarified Butter) 2 tsp
Mustard seeds ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds ½ tsp
Dry red chillies  2
Asafoetida powder ¼ tsp 
Curry leaves 5-6
Ingredients

• Cook Toor Dal with turmeric till it is nice and soft (mushy).
• Churn the dal (mash it is the word if you do not understand churn) and add everything except garam masala and tempering along with 1-2 cups of water (depending on the consistency you want to go for). I did not change the pans here and added everything in the same cooker which I used to cook the dal.
• Let it simmer for 15-20, but mixing every 3-4 min and making sure the dal doesn't stick to the bottom.
• Turn off the heat.
• Take ghee in a non-stick pan (small for tempering).
• Add all the seeds together and let them pop (fenugreek seeds must turn brown).
• Add the rest of the tempering ingredients in and fry till nice aroma comes (about 20-30 seconds).
• Add this hot tempering and garam masala in the cooked dal and cook for another 5 minutes before serving.

Serving
Serve it with hot rice (like I did) or with nice chapati/roti.


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

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.

Sabut Masoor ki Masale Wali Dal - साबुत मसूर की मसाले वाली दाल (Spicy Whole Brown Lentils)

Hello friends,


Here is one more very favorite recipe of Whole Brown Lentils. I love these whole lentils or grains :)


Sabut Masoor ki Masale Wali Dal - साबुत मसूर की मसाले वाली दाल (Spicy Whole Brown Lentils)

Ingredients

Sabut Masoor (Whole Brown Lentils) - 1 cup, washed

Onion - 1 cup finely chopped

Tomato - 1 cup chopped

Hari Mirch (Green Chillies) - 3-4 finely sliced (increase or decrease based on your taste)

Ginger - 1 inch piece grated

Garlic - 4-5 cloves

Haldi (Turmeric Powder) - 1 tsp

Lal Mirch (Red Chilli Powder) - 1/2 tsp

Dhaniya (Coriander) Powder - 1 tsp

Jeera (Cumin) Powder - 1 tsp

Amchur - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Rai (Mustard Seeds) - 1 tsp

Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Lemon juice - 1-2 tsp (based on your taste)

Cilantro - 1/2 cup finely chopped

Ghee - 2 tsps

Preparation

• Take cooker (I ideally use cooker so that I can use the same to cook the final product as well and do not have to change it into a cooker later), add oil
• Add rai and jeera and let them splutter
• Add hari mirch, ginger and garlic and fry for 1 min.
• Add chopped onion and fry them till they are transulcent
• Add all dry masalas (except garam masala) and fry for 1 min.
• Add chopped tomatoes and fry for 1 min . (no need to wait till they are all mushy)
• Add sabut masoor and mix well.
• Add enough water to cover the dal and a little extra.
• Put the lid on the cooker (or transfer it to cooker if you didn't take a cooker to begin with) and let it cook for about 15-20 min. (depending on how mushy you would like your dal to be, but make sure your masoor holds shape and does not become beaten)
• After removing the lid, mix dal, add lemon juice, garam masala and cilantro to the cooked dal and cover the lid again (do not mix after adding garnishings at this point). Let it be like that at least for 10-15 min. 
• Add water to change consistency. Remember, this dal is not very runny, but used little thicker.

Serving

Serve it with rice or roti/paratha. I can actually eat it just like that and it is a great meal on its own.

I am sending this to MLLA # 24 hosted by Diana and started by Susan.

 

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

Masala Masoor Dal - मसाला मसूर दाल (Spicy Split Red Lentils)

Hello friends,


A Very Happy Father's Day to all my fellow bloggers and readers and their dads.


Here is a very simple dal, which is our family favorite in my mom's family and of course now my husband and mine too :) 


Usually we cook this along with Aloo Posto (recipe will follow soon) and that is like "the" combo we like.


I usually cook it on stove top (never used cooker for it as masoor dal is very quickly cooked). But, this time I wanted to use microwave through and through just to take part in MEC - Delicious Dals event, which was originally started by Srivalli.


Masala Masoor Dal - मसाला मसूर दाल  (Spicy Split Red Lentils)

Ingredients
Masoor Dal (Split Red Lentils) - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Haldi (Turmeric Powder) - 1/2 tsp
Dhaniya (Coriander) Powder - 1 tsp
Jeera (Cumin) Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
For Tempering
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tsp
Rai (Mustard Seeds) - 1 tsp
Sabut Lal Mirch (Dry Red Chili) - 3-4, broken into pieces
Oil - 2 tsp
Preparation

• Wash and drain dal.
• Take dal in a microwave bowl with water, salt and haldi.
• Cook it for about 15 min in microwave or till it is well cooked.
• Now, take a small microave safe bowl and add everything under "For Tempering" and heat for 2 min.
• Mix tempering in the cooked dal along with dhaniya and jeera powders and cook again in microwave for 5 min.

Serving
Serve it with roti or warm rice.

I am sending this to MLLA # 24 hosted by Diana and started by Susan.

 

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

Daal-Baati-Choorma - A traditional trio recipe of Rajasthan

Hello friends,


Hope you all had a great weekend. Thought of sharing something very traditional and exclusively Rajasthani. They are called Daal-Baati-Choorma. I am sure other cultures also have something similar to this. As I was born and brought up in Bihar, I know that they have something similar which is called Litti which is stuffed with Sattu (fried Chickpea Flour).


Today, I am sharing a plain baati. But, they are also made stuffed which I will cover some other time. If you have surfed internet looking for this recipe, you will notice that pretty much every recipe will be slightly different as every family has a specific way of making it. This is my family's recipe :)


Baati - बाटी  (Wheat Balls - Rolls)

Ingredients
Aata (Whole wheat flour) - 1 cup
Besan (Chick Pea Flour) - 1/4 cup
Sooji (Semolia) - 1 tbsp
Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 1/2 cup (melted to mix in the dough)
Saunf (Fennel Seeds) - 2 tsp crushed coarsely
Ajwain (Carom Seeds) - 2 tsp crushed coarsely
Salt - as per taste
Ghee - 1/4 cup (to brush the baatis before putting them in oven and afterwards before eating)
Preparation

• Knead firmly by mixing all the ingredients except for ghee that needs to be used to brush later (the last ingredient). Keep it aside.
• Heat your broiler on Lo.
• Pinch lemon sized balls out of the dough, make as smooth as a ball as you can and then press it in the middle with the thumb.
• Brush each baati liberally with ghee and place them on a sheet or pan in the oven on top rack to broil for about 20 minutes flipping them sometime after 10 minutes. Timing may vary depending on your oven. So, keep checking it after 15 minutes and increase or decrease the time. 
• Once they are nice and golden brown, it means they are done.

Serving
Serve the baatis hot. Before serving, brush the batai with ghee (traditionally, they are dipped in ghee not just brushed and then eaten), but these days we are more health conscious). Serve them with some nice dal. Usually we make Panchmel Dal and Choorma (click on the links to get the recipes which I have shared before). The baatis are broken in 3-4 pieces each (or more depending on the size of the baatis), dipped in dal and enjoyed.


Note: Taking the measurements mentioned above, makes enough baatis for a family of 3-4.


I am submitting this recipe for Divya's "Show me your Whole Grains" event.

OK, that's all for now. Till next post, take care.

Panchmel Dal - पंचमेल दाल (Five Lentils Dal)

Hello Friends,


Wow, have I been lazy or what for last few days. I haven't been doing any real cooking as such. Monday night, I made veggie burgers with patties bought from COSTCO (my family favorite though, and real super yummy patties, I guess all my friends who are veggies love eating this one). Yesterday afternoon, made vegetable maggie (lol, a real quick one) and yesterday night, had rotis with some leftover curries (to finish them off and get over with).


Finally, today, made some super yummy dal, that goes with anything and is a super hit everytime I made it for a small gathering or a party. Thus, thought of sharing it with all of you. 


It is called "Panchmel Dal", though I usually only add 4 dals in it as I get little lazy in soaking the 5th dal as it takes some soaking to be done, before getting cooked. 


Panchmel Dal - पंचमेल दाल (Five Lentils Dal)

Ingredients
For Main Dal
Toor Dal - 1/4 cup (washed and soaked for 10 min.)
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup (washed and soaked for 10 min.)
Masoor Dal - 1/4 cup (washed and soaked for 10 min.)
Chana Dal - 1/4 cup (washed and soaked for 10 min.)
Green Whole Moong Dal - 1/4 cup (washed and soaked for at least 8 hours)
Onion (Finely Chopped) - 1 cup
Tomatoes (Finely Chopped) - 1 cup
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - Per taste
Oil - 1 tsp
For Tadka
Rai (Mustard Seeds) - 1 tsp
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 2-3 finelly sliced
Onion - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Ginger - 1 inch piece crushed
Garlic - 5-6 cloves crushed
Ghee - 2 tsp
Cilantro - 1/2 cup finely chopped (for garnishing)
Preparation

• Take a pan (I usually use cooked as then I can just cook my dal in the same one).
• Add chopped onions and let them fry till translucent.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook them for 3 more min.
• Add all dry masalas and fry for 2 min.
• Add all dals and fry for 2 min.
• Add enough water to cover dals and about one more inch above it.
• Cook it till they are well done (I usually use my cooker for 12 min.)
• Add water to give it desired consistency.
• Add cilantro to the cooked dal and close the lid.
• Now, take another pan, add ghee to it
• Once ghee is hot, add rai and jeera in it
• Once they splutter, add green chillies and ginger garlic and fry till nice aroma comes.
• Take cooked dal in a serving bowl and add tadka on top of it.
• Enjoy the dal !!!

Serving
Serve this rice with roti/paratha/nan or just plain steamed rice (my favorite).


I had written this post all well last night itself but my little one (5.5 month old) did not want me to post it, so I had to take care of it and post this morning.


Hope you all love it and try it.


This recipe is also an entry for Vegetable Marathon - Beans.

Till next post, take care,
Priya