Recipe of Chana Dal

Chana dal also known as Bengal Gram Dal is a North Indian dish and is very popular dal among most of the families. This dish is sauteed with regular spices, onion and tomatoes. Chana Dal contains voluminous amount of vitamins and proteins, which is easily digestible by our body. Since this dal need a lot of time to cook. Therefore, in spite of cooking directly first soak it in water so that it could cook faster. Additional tadka or tempering gives a nice aroma and taste to the dal.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-cup Chana Dal
• 2-tbsp ghee or oil
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt as required
• Four Green chilly
• One green cardamom
• ½-tsp cinnamon seeds
• One pinch of asafoetida
• ½-tsp cumin seeds
• 2 chopped onions
• ½-tsp mustard seeds
• Four curry leaves
• Four-tbsp tomato paste
• Fresh lemon juice
• Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method for Preparation:

1. Take Chana Dal and wash it under running cold water until the water become clear. Soak dal in enough water for about 2 hours. By doing so, you can cook it faster.
2. Drain the water and put the dal in pressure cooker. Add turmeric powder and small amount of salt to this dal.
3. Now, take enough water to cover the dal and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Wait for 6 – 7 whistles. When the pressure goes down, open the lid. Check whether the dal is softened and well cooked. Meanwhile prepare the chilly garlic paste.
4. Heat the oil in saucepan on medium heat. Add cardamom and cinnamon seeds and then add cumin seeds and asafoetida (hing). When they will start sizzling and hing is fragrant, add chopped onions and saute it turns to golden brown.
5. Now, add chilly garlic paste, coriander powder, salt with the tomato paste. Mix well and keep on scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid sticking.
6. Open the lid of the pressure cooker and add the dal to the mixture that you prepared. Put extra water if needed and then let the dal boil for 5 minutes on low heat.
7. To make the dal tastier, you can add a special tadka to your dal.
8. For this, you have to heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Add curry leaves and red dried chilly to the mustard oil.
9. Add tempering to the dal and add lemon juice to the dal.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed Basmati rice and raita.