Chana Dal

Chana Dal

January 3, 2016, 3:11 am
Filed under: recipes

While waiting for my Rancho Gordo bean order to arrive on Wednesday, I perused my cupboard and found only Urid dal, Chana dal and red lentils . I had made a red lentil dal already this week, so I decided to use the Chana Dal this time.  The dish was so tasty I decided to share my recipe

Ingredients

• Chana dal 1 cup
• water 3 cups
• oil 4 tsps.
• grated ginger 1 tsp.
• grated garlic 1 tsp.
• red chili powder 1/4 tsp.
• onions, chopped 1/2 cup
• salt, 3/4 tsp.
• coriander powder 1 tsp.
• turmeric 1/2 tsp.
• Garam masala 1 tsp.
• mustard seeds 1 tsp.
• cumin seeds 1 tsp.
• curry leaves 5 leaves
• cilantro

Instructions.

1. Wash dal in several changes of water.  Drain. Put dal in a heavy bottom pot with  3 cups water.
2. Bring pot to a boil, turn down to a low rolling boil and cover.
3. Cook until soft, approximately 1.5 hrs, checking occasionally.. Fresher beans will cook faster. Older ones will cook slower.
4. When beans are almost done, put 2 tsps. of oil in a medium hot cast iron skillet.
5. Add onions and stir.
6. When the onions start to become translucent add the salt, the ginger, the garlic, the red chili powder, the coriander powder, the turmeric powder and the Garam Masala.
7. Stir . Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
8. Add  onion-spice mixture to dal.
9. Wash skillet, dry and again heat it to medium hot.
10. Put 2 tsps. of oil in the pan. Add the mustard seeds on one side and the cumin seeds on the other.
11. When the mustard seeds begin to pop take the pan off the burner and add the broken up curry leaves.
12. Stir and then add to the dal mixture.
13. Cook for another 5 minutes while you chop up the coriander leaves, also know as cilantro.
14. Shut off heat, add cilantro leaves , stir and serve.

Notes:I use Sesame oil when I make dal(not toasted), but you can use any kind of oil you prefer such as Olive oil, coconut oil, etc. You can use more salt if you prefer. I use sea salt, but any salt will do.

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