Dal Fry with Three Dals- A Delicious Mixed Lentil Soup

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. While the cooking continues, I find myself trying to manage time to be able to do all the tasks at hand. I finally got some time today and decided to pen down this delicious dal fry recipe that I had made for an elaborate dinner a few months ago. Everyone loved it, especially the kids. I got the best compliments from my friend's eight year old who asked her mom to get the recipe so that she could have it at home as well. Well, finally here it is. I made it again last week and thought this is a great recipe to make during these cold winter evenings. Just the thought of steaming hot, delicious dal served with some jeera rice, makes my mouth water. A perfect weeknight comfort meal indeed!

Ingredients
1 cup tur dal/arhar dal/ pigon peas
1/2 cup mung dal - split, peeled yellow mung dal
1/2 cup chana dal/split pea
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp tsp oil
1/8 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1-2 green chillies
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 inch ginger, finely minced or crushed
1 red onion, diced finely
2 tomates, diced finely
cilantro/corriander leaves, chopped to garnish
5-6 cups  water
2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

Method
Mix together the tur dal, chana dal and mung dal. Wash the mixture at least 2-3 times. Then add double the quantity of water compared to the dal, so in this case, 4 cups of  water, hing and turmeric and cook it. I generally use the pressure cooker  to cook the dal (see tips for how to cook the dal if you don't have a pressure cooker). Once cooked, mash the dal a little with a spoon and keep aside. In a deep pan, heat some oil. Then add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once they start to brown and change color, add the chillies, onions and the ginger and garlic. Cook this till the onions become transparent and start to change color and the raw ginger garlic smell goes away. Then add the tomatoes and cook them well. Then add the garam masala and fry for a couple of minutes till you can smell the aroma of the masala. Now, add the dal and mix well. Add some water if the dal is too thick. Generally, dal fry is thicker dal (similar to creamy  soups) and not very watery. Add the salt and bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some cilantro for garnish. Serve hot with rice, pulao, roti or naan.

Tips
If you don't  have a pressure cooker, this is how you can cook the dal without having to boil it for hours. Soak the dal for an hour in warm water. Then in a deep pan, boil the dal with at least two times the water, turmeric and hing. Stir occasionally, so that the dal at the bottom of the pan doesn't burn. Turn off the heat when the dal is cooked through, soft and can be easily mashed (about 30-40 minutes) .
As the dal cools down it will thicken. So when you reheat the dal, add a little water and then reheat it. Since the onion and tomato have not been browned, the dal will retain the yellow color. If you do brown it, then that is also okay.

Chole (Cholay/Chana) - Delicious Curried Garbanzo Beans

Chole/ Cholay or Masala Chana is a very tasty dish where chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) plays the main role. It is very popular in Indian restaurants and if you can't find it under the curries section, you will definitely find it paired with the puffed, deep fried bread called "Batura/Bature". It is an easy to scale up dish too and generally finds a permanent spot in buffets, in almost all Indian restaurants (especially restaurants outside India).  Hence, it is a fantastic dish to make for a large crowd at home. When I was in college, curried garbanzo was a staple and made at least once a week. However, that was a far cry from what chole should be. It is definitely not something to be cooked in a hurry by throwing various spices in it. And I would highly recommend not using canned beans (unless it is an emergency), especially if you want the end product to be impressive. The following recipe is one that you will be proud to serve to your guests, who will be left smacking their fingers and asking for more (or even the recipe).

Ingredients
1 cup raw/dry garbanzo beans/chickpeas/chana/chole
water to soak the chickpeas completely
1 tea bag
3 tbsp oil
1 black cardamom/badi elaichi
3 bayleaves
1 inch cinnamon piece
10 black peppercorns
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 inch ginger, finely chopped
1 cup red onion/ 1 large onion
2 tsp corriander-cumin/dhania jeera powder
1 tsp amchur powder/ dry raw mango powder
1 tomato, diced
2 tsp garam masala
red chilli powder to taste
salt to taste
1/2 cup water (for the gravy - if needed)

Method
In a deep bowl, soak garbanzo beans. Make sure that you are covering the beans with sufficient water and have at least an inch of water above the top layer of the beans. Soak for at least 6 hours (best if done overnight). The beans will absorb the water and swell and the volume will double. Then take these in a deep pan and add a tea bag to it and cover with water and cook. You need to boil the chickpeas till they are softened. There should still be some bite or firmness to the chickpea and it should not get mushy. You can alternately use the pressure cooker (which is a faster method). Once cooked, take the tea bag out and keep this aside.

In another large and deep pan, heat oil. To this add the black cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon and pepper corns. Let them roast in the oil for a minute till fragrant and then add the ginger and garlic and
fry for another minute. Then add the onions. Now, cook the onions till well browned. It is very important to brown the onions, to get the authentic taste. This should be done on medium heat so that the onions don't burn.

Once the onions are well browned, add the dhania-jeera powder and amchur powder and stir well and fry for a minute. Then add the red chilli powder and then the cooked chickpeas. Retain the water in which the chickpeas have been cooked. Do not add water at this stage. Mix the chickpeas well so that they get coated by the spices. Then add the tomato and about a half a cup of the retained water in which the chickpeas were cooked. Let this cook till the tomato gets cooked and softens. At this stage, add the garam masala.  If the gravy has become very thick, then add a little water and let the gravy boil for a few minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve hot with white rice or bature or naan.

Tips
You need to plan ahead when making chole as the beans need to be soaked at least for 6-8 hours before they can be cooked. The fastest method to cook chickpeas is to cook them in the pressure cooker. It takes about 8 whistles in my cooker to cook the chickpeas or I cook them in the beans mode in my Instant Pot.
I have read many recipes in which a pinch of baking soda is added to the water when it is being soaked. From what I have read, this helps the chickpeas cook faster. However, it is not necessary to do so.
Add a little salt while cooking the beans, and it will get absorbed into the chickpeas making them tasty.
If you noticed, this recipe doesn't call for any chole masala. This is an easy to make recipe which uses whole spices and only garam masala. If you want the chole to be yellow in color, then do not add the tea bag while cooking the chickpeas.
If you do use canned chickpeas, do not use the tea bag. The canned chickpeas are already pre cooked and rather soft, and if you cook them for an additional time with the teabag, they will disintegrate.
If you do happen to burn the onions a little, it will impart a slightly bitter flavor to the gravy. If you detect this, add a tsp of sugar to the gravy and mix well. This will nullify the bitterness.

Dal Fry - Seasoned Lentil Soup

I must start by acknowleding the long gap between the last post and this one. And for those of you who read the blog regularly, I owe an explanation. Generally, I write about only food related topics on this blog, however since the explanation is non food related, here goes. For the longest time I have tried to stay away from synchronizing my email account to my phone and hence had to long in daily to check and respond to emails. And usually after I did that, I used to start my next blog post. However, between the last blog and this, I finally caved in and added my email account to my phone. Since then, I have noticed a significant impact on the amount of time I spend on my computer. I have become more of a consumer of information rather than producing it and I didn't even realize it. Have any of you faced the same issue? Are you spending a lot more time away from your computer and on your smart phone (for non-office related activities)?

Well, now that you know the reason for my absence, I hope you will take some heart in the knowledge that I have made a conscious decision to attend to my blog more regularly. With that said, let me dive into the absolutely delicious recipe for making "dal fry" which is made from lentils and has a spicy seasoning. It is one of the most versatile recipes and I will be posting many different versions of the same in the future as well. The following is one I make most regularly and the dal goes well with rotis or rice.

Ingredients

1 cup split pigeon peas/tur dal
2 cups water
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of hing/asafoetida powder
1 tbsp oil
1/8 tsp cumin seeds
1/8 tsp mustard seeds
1 red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, finely diced
1-3 green chillies, to taste
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
some cilantro/corriander for garnish
salt to taste
additional water to thin out the dal

Method
Mix together the tur dal, water, hing and turmeric and cook it. I generally use the pressure cooker  to cook the dal (see tips for how to cook the dal if you don't have a pressure cooker). Cook it for 5-6 whistles or in the Instant Pot for 12 minutes on manual mode at high pressure. Let the pressure release naturally. Once cooked, mash the dal a little with a spoon and keep aside. In a deep pan, heat some oil. Then add the mustard and cumin seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the chillies, onions and ginger garlic paste. Cook this till the onions start to brown and the raw ginger garlic smell goes away. Then add the tomatoes and cook them well. Then add the garam masala and fry for a couple of minutes till you can smell the aroma of the masala. Now, add the dal and mix well. Add some water if the dal is too thick. Generally, dal fry is thicker dal (similar to creamy  soups) and not very watery. Add salt. Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some cilantro for garnish. Serve hot with rice, pulao or roti.

Tips
If you don't  have a pressure cooker, this is how you can cook the dal without having to boil it for hours. Soak the dal for an hour in warm water. Then in a deep pan, boil the dal with at least two times the water, turmeric and hing. Stir occasionally, so that the dal at the bottom of the pan doesn't burn. Turn off the heat when the dal is cooked through, soft and can be easily mashed (about 30-40 minutes) . Add a squirt of lemon/lime juice to the dal for a tangier taste.
You can use the same method and ingredients to make dal fry using chana dal (yellow split peas).