sookhi urad ki daal | skinned black lentil stew with chilli garlic

Sookhi urad ki daal is not the everyday daal in UP homes. The ubiquitous everyday daal in most UP homes is peeli daal or arhar ki daal or even a mix of masoor, mung and arhar daals (skinned mung beans, red lentils and pigeon peas) to make a yellow daal. Now even this yellow daal would be very different in each home with a favourite tadka, the consistency being thick or thin the way a particular family likes it. Urad daal (skinned black lentils) is not something people like eating everyday.

But then there are days when they want a break with peeli daal and some special daal will be made, not necessarily an elaborate recipe or a rich preparation, but a change in the routine is seen as special. This sookhi urad ki daal is one of those daals and often finds a place on party menus too. I am talking about the days when 'daal makhni' was not the only popular daal preparation for vegetarian menus.

This sooki urad ki daal also has various versions and home cooks keep innovating the tadka or the garnish but the cooking procedure of sookhi urad ki daal is considered a skill to be proud of. You might find people who criticize a sookhi daal in the way it looks. Whether each grain of the daal is clean or has got mushy or whether it is properly coated with ghee or not. Some people like each grain of daal coated with a red chilly infused ghee and some like loads of crisp fried garlic flakes interspersed with the daal.

In older days it was rare to use tomatoes in this daal but now some people add fresh tomato paste to the daal, I find tomatoes spoiling the real fun of this daal. It is best cooked with minimal additives but the tadka could be as loaded as you like. Here is my simpler recipe that can be a base to start adding your kind of flavours to it if you wish. Or just enjoy the way I like it.

This is the version I like with green chilies of the mild variety. You can use some hot green chillies and a little finely chopped green capsicum to get that effect if you wish.

ingredients 
(2-3 servings, this daal is normally served in small portions as a side dish)

for pressure cooking
skinned black lentils (urad daal dhuli) 1/3 cup
water 1 cup
chopped green chillies of the mild variety as much as you like, I used 3 large ones
salt to taste

for tadka
ghee 2 tsp or as much as you can handle
one whole dry red chilly
chopped or sliced garlic as much as you like
hing (asafoetida) a pinch

procedure..

Purists would slow cook the daal in a pan over gas flame and would strain all the cooking liquid as soon as the daal is soft but not mushy. Use more water if doing so. I just add everything in a pressure cooker and cook for 10 minutes after the first whistle. I like to retain whatever little cooking liquid remains in the daal.

To prepare the tadka heat the ghee in a shallow pan and tip in the hing and then the broken red chilly. Let the red chilly get almost burnt when you add the chopped garlic. Now let the garlic alos browned well and then add this chilly garlic infused and almost smoked tadka to the cooked daal. Cover for 5 minutes to let the flavours infuse.

Serve hot as a side dish. I like this daal even at room temperature and it often becomes the daal for lunch box for the husband.

This daal behaves very well with dhungar or smoking with the help of a piece of charcoal. If you want that kind of smoky flavour just place the charcoal over gas flame till it gets red, place a steel bowl inside the daal pot with little ghee and a red chilly in it. Place the red hot charcoal into this bowl and cover the lid, let the red chilly burn and the smoke infuse into the daal.

In my recipe I just let the red chilly get charred into the tadka and get the desired effect. The burn red chilly is removed after it does it's work.

The daal looks plain and white but packs a punch. Slightly hot with chillies but more flavours of the green chilly and garlic that makes this daal quite potent. You just cannot eat too much of this. Best enjoyed with ghee soaked rotis made of whole grain. I like this daal with jowar rotis the most, with some baingan bharta for company.

Do not add any dhaniya patta for garnish. Never.

sabut masoor ki daal and how to make it differently for everyday convenience

Sabut masoor ki daal used to be a frequent dinner time daal back in my parents' home. For some reason peeli arhar ki daal for lunch and sabut masoor ki daal for dinner was almost a ritual that we grew up with. Winters brought a lot of matar ka nimona and masoor ki daal ka nimona or even palak ka nimona that I have not cooked since ages, but we came back to square one in summers. The same peeli arhar ki daal and masoor ki daal routine we followed religiousely but I don't remember anyone ever complained. I think we were a bunch of extremely active-growing-hungry kids who would get even more hungry when the dining table was laid out.

I think one reason why sabut masoor ki daal was so frequent on the table was that it came from the village grown organically for the family. I can well understand now why my parents wanted to use the home grown lentils to the fullest.

I remember papa would cut salad, would prepare the jars of pickled onion and ginger-garlic and there would always be some freshly ground green chutney at the table. Hot daal with home made ghee was another standard presence at the table that everyone looked forward to. Simple real foods that become a habit and comfort, far from ordering a pizza meal that many associate with comfort food these days. One can always make better choices I say.

So this sabut masoor ki daal remained the comfort food forever. The husband is not too fond of it but he likes it for a change. I eat my sabut masor ki dal religiously,silently and mostly like a one pot meal. I am sharing one of my simplest one pot recipes first, the tadka tempered recipe is next. I cook both the recipes as per convenience and mood, also depending on whether the daal is to be served to guests or to ourselves. For ourselves I like the quick simpler version more, lighter and milder on spice quotient. Topped with a blob of butter or ghee.

ingredients..
(2 servings)

whole red lentils with skin washed and drained (sabut masoor ki daal) 1/2 cup
chopped garlic 1 tsp
chopped ginger root 1-2 tsp (I like a bit more ginger but add as per taste)
chopped green chillies 1 tsp or to taste
black pepper powder 1/4 tsp
roasted cumin powder 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
2 tbsp chopped onions and one medium tomato blended together to make a fine paste
hing (asafoetida) 1 pinch
salt to taste

*ghee 1 tsp + 1 tsp

procedure..

Put all the ingredients together in a pressure cooker pan and add 1.5 cups of water. Add salt to taste and 1 tsp *ghee and close the lid. Place on the gas flame and cook till the first whistle blows. Lower the flame and cook further for 8-10 minutes.

Let the pressure release by itself. Open the lid and stir the cooked daal once. Adjust consistency by adding water or cooking a bit more to make the daal thicker if you wish. Add the remaining 1 tsp ghee and serve hot. You don't even need to garnish it with dhaniya patta or anything. Add more ghee if you wish and can afford health wise.

More ghee is bad ONLY if you eat a lot of it and that too not for clogging your blood vessels but by adding extra calories to your overall daily food intake.

The tadka tempered version of the sabut masoor ki daal would cooked simply with salt and turmeric powder in the pressure cooker as stated above. A tempering will be prepared and added to the cooked daal and simmered for 5 minutes before serving. Some milk and cream would be added to make the daal more 'dressed up for the occasion' if the daal is being served to guests. Not to enhance the taste but to dress it up to look good.

To make a tempering masala for the spiced sabut masoor ki daal..

For 2-3 servings of the daal, heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan, add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and some chopped onions, fry till onions get pinkish but not brown. Add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and fry till it all looks glazed.

Add 2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp pepper powder, red chilly powder to taste and let it all sizzle for a second. Add a little garam masala and 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes. Add  bit of salt and fry till everything gets mushy.

Pour this mix into the cooked masoor ki daal and simmer till everything gets incorporated. Add 1/2 cup milk or 2 tbsp cream if desired. Let it come to a boil again.

Serve hot garnished with whatever you like. A blob of butter or a dollop of cream goes a long way to ensure everyone is smitten with the daal. I like some ginger julienne but skip adding it if the other side dishes are hot.

The best part with this daal and many other daals that I cook is, that I use the leftovers to create a favourite breakfast of mine. Daal dhokli made with leftover daal is the best ghee laced breakfast for me to start the day.

Just dilute the daal with equal amount of water. You need about 3/4 cup of cooked daal per serving. Roll out a chapati using multigrain dough and cut the rolled chapati into small square pieces. Mix everything together and simmer till the thin pieces of chapati get cooked. It takes about 5 minutes total.

This is just like pasta in a lentil soup. Trust me this curried lentil pasta will be much more loved than a regular pasta in a soup. Try once if you don't believe me.

Sabut masor ki daal will be your favourite too. Or probably it already is.

everyday daal : chane ki daal bathue wali | sagpaita cooked with split chickpeas and chenopodium greens

Sagpaita is a name given to all lentils cooked with winter greens. Spinach, Chenopodium (bathua), Fenugreek greens (methi), Chane ka saag (chickpea greens) or a mix of spinach and dill leaves, fenugreek greens and dill leaves etc is cooked with any lentil to make a saucy daal rich with flavours of garlic, hing and cumin used for the tadka.

Sagpaita is basically a winter food that is considered warming and hydrating for the body at the same time. The lentils used mostly for sagpaita are arhar ki daal (split pigeon peas), chane ki daal (split chickpeas) or urad daal (split black beans) but a mix of lentils is also used. Mung ki daal (split mung beans) is also cooked to make sagpaita but it is mostly with baby spinach or baby fenugreek greens.

All these sagpaita recipes are slightly different from each other despite being a mix of lentils and greens basically but the taste of each sagpaita tells you how and why each one is cooked differently.

We do cook lentils with purslane greens in summers too but somehow sagpaita is a name given to the ones cooked with winter greens only. No wonder, the daal can include a lot of spices and loads of ghee is topped over the bowls of sagpaita. It has to be a winter delicacy as the recipe is tuned to be eaten in winters. All parts of Uttar Pradesh get very chilly during the 2 months of winter and there are various foods made with fresh produce to stay warm.

This chane ki daal ka sagpaita with bathue ka saag is made differently in each family. Some would add a little urad dal to it and some would add some fresh green peas or 'harey chane' but the tempering will always have some hing-jeera-lasun and laal mirch along with mild spices like dhaniya, jeera, kali mirch powder and may be a couple of tejpatta. There is good protein in the daal along with a lot of greens, so the hing and garlic etc is added to allow proper digestion of the sagpaita.

I sometimes add es of paneer to my sagpaita to make it a one pot meal. Otherwise it is best enjoyed with plain boiled rice, some bhujia type dry subzi, raita and papad kind of Indian meals.

ingredients
(2-3 large servings)

For pressure cooking
chane ki daal (split chickpeas 100 gm (scant half cup)
finely chopped bathua (chenopodium greens) 300 gm (2 cups packed)
minced ginger 1 tbsp
salt to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp
water 1.5 cup

For tempering
ghee 1 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
hing (asafotida) a pinch
chopped garlic 1-2 tsp according to taste
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp or more to taste
everyday curry powder 1 tsp (optional)

lime juice to serve.
Paneer cubes as per requirement.

procedure

Pressure cook the daal and bathua greens along with the ingredients listed. Wait till the pressure builds up and the whistle blows, then cook on low flame for 10 minutes.

Prepare the tempering by heating the ghee and then adding the ingredients one after the other in the order listed. Make sure the garlic gets pink in colour and turns aromatic before you add the chilly powder and then remove the pan from the stove and pour the ingredients into the cooked daal. Mix well and churn the daal mixture if you like the sagpaita a bit saucy.

Serve hot with some lime juice or hot melted ghee or butter on top. This can be served with all the usual Indian accompaniments for a meal as I mentioned.

When I add paneer cubes I usually let the sagpaita simmer for a few minutes to soften the paneer before serving. Sagpaita or bathue wali chane ki daal has a distinct aroma of hing, cumin seeds and garlic that we call 'hing-jeera-lehsun ka tadka' and a mild kick imparted by red chillies. The base is earthy with bathua and chana dal that makes this sagpaita a very uniquely flavoured daal.

You can cook this daal with arhar (toor or pigeon peas) ki daal as well. The recipe wont changeeven if you use a mix of chane and arhar ki daal. But mung and urad daals need a different treatment. We will talk about that when I share the recipe of sagpaita with those lentils.

Enjoy bathua chane ki daal ka saigpaita till then.

chane ki daal paneer wali | split chickpeas cooked with tomatoes and paneer

This chane ki daal with paneer cubes is one of those favourite recipes that make my life easier, meals tastier and keep my eating resolutions in place. All at once trust me. This chane ki daal is made a little thick like chana masala or chhole and suits a lunch box meal really well. Also, this chane ki daal can be served with a variety of Indian breads and rice preparations, can also be had like a one pot meal. Try that if you trust me.

Another chane ki daal masale wali is a UP specialty but this one with paneer is my own take on this healthy lentil.

There are some daal recipes in my repertoire that make my cooking really quick and convenient. These daal recipes are tasty as well as really quick to cook, wholesome flavours that can make a quick meal in itself, can be taken into lunch boxes and can be cooked in a hurry when you have unannounced guests. I depend on these recipes a lot and keep playing with the flavorings a bit according to seasons and available herbs and required spice level. These daal recipes basically do not need a tadka or just a quick 'heeng jeere ka tadka' instead of bhunoeing a whole lot of onion, garlic and ginger paste, masala powders and all that jazz.

Apart from this chane ki daal paneer wali, there is a Bengali recipe of coconut laced chane ki daal, a few versions of sabut mung ki daal and another sabut masoor ki daal that I make quite often. It is a shame the recipe is still not on the blog but let me tell you that these recipes are mostly cooked in such a hurry that there is no time to click pictures and share them with you all. Hoping to make those daals again this winter and click pictures too. Yes I like these daals as a one pot meal in winter season. Especially for dinner.

So this chane ki daal paneer wali is a one step recipe. You just mix the ingredients and pressure cook. The time taken to cook this recipe is just about the time that chane ki daal takes to be pressure cooked and that is about 20 minutes total (for 2-4 servings). Not much chopping, no preparation for tadka and absolutely healthy.

ingredients
(2 large servings)

to be pressure cooked together...
chane ki daal (rinsed and strained) 1/2 cup
chopped tomatoes 1/2 cup
tejpatta or bay leaves 2
whole black pepper corns 10-12
black cardamom 1
green cardamom 3
cinnamon stick 1 inch piece
cloves 3
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
1.5 cup water
salt to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp

to be added after the pressure cooking..
chopped coriander greens 1/4 cup
cubed paneer 1/3 cup or about 60 gm
ghee 1 tsp

procedure

Bring everything together in the first list and pressure cook for 10 minutes after the first whistle. This is the time taken for the lentils to get cooked but not too mushy. The time depends on the quantity you are cooking and the size of the pressure cooker as well, so adjust that according to your requirement.

Add the ingredients from the second list to the cooked daal and simmer for 2 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving or serve as required. This daal doesn't reheat too well but you can dilute the daal a little if you have to serve leftovers and it becomes better. It is always better to fish out the whole spices before serving.

This chane ki daal paneer wali is a great way to ensure a protein rich meal but please don't assume that it doesn't contain any carbs. All lentils have enough carbohydrates for us to keep us going. We like this daal with millet rotis, whole wheat parathas and sometimes with plain boiled rice. You can serve this daal with an elaborate meal along with pooris too as I have seen people enjoying this daal with poori a lot. Isn't this chane ki daal a really versatile recipe?

Try adding some chhole masala to it and see how great it tastes with that too. You can add fresh methi (fenugreek) greens to the daal if that is in season or some dill greens if you like the flavours. This chane ki daal tastes good even without any of these herbs but somehow I never make it without a generous handful of aromatic herbs.

Do let me know what would you like it with?

light meals : muradabadi mung ki daal aur parval ka chokha

Mung ki daal is the most frequent daal in my kitchen. Not only it cooks faster, I like the taste too and the simplicity with which I can dress up this daal into anything I want. I make it into a sookhi mung ki daal sometimes and add some methi sprouts to mung daal some other times. Mung ka dhokla is a recipe I repeat frequently for our evening snacks or weekend breakfasts. But the most simple thing I do with dhuli mung (skinned yellow mung beans) is just to pressure cook it and add some chopped tomato onions and have as it is. I love it as a soup, snack or a meal whatever way I need it.

This way of dressing boiled mung ki daal with just a few chopped raw onion and tomatoes is a very common way of cooking the daal in western UP, specifically Muradabad. My sister's mother in law makes this daal and everyone loves the clean flavours of this simple daal. The most wonderful thing is that there is hardly any recipe to note down. But let me warn you that the simpler recipes need to be accurate to make sense.

Recipe of  Muradabadi mung ki daal

ingredients
(2-3 servings)

To pressure cook..
split mung daal 1/2 cup (rinsed)
water 1 and 1/4 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
hing or asafotida 1 pinch
ghee 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

to serve..
roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera) 2 tsp
chopped tomatoes 1/4 cup
chopped red onions or bulbs of spring onions 1/4 cup
chopped coriander greens 2-3 tbsp
chopped green chillies to taste
ghee to serve 1/2 tsp or more per serving

procedure

Mix everything listed under 'to pressure cook' and pressure cook till the whistle blows up. Switch off the flame and let the pressure cooker rest till ready to be opened. Depending on the size of the pressure cooker, the daal will be thick and done or it may be a little al dante. Let the daal simmer without the lid if needs more cooking but only till it gets thick and done, not mushy or pasty.

Add the bhuna jeera (roasted cumin) powder and half of the chopped onion and mix.

Pour the daal in individual bowls and garnish with the remaining chopped onion, tomatoes and dhaniya patta. Drizzle with ghee and serve hot.

I usually make some bharta or chokha with such simple light meals, mostly when we are home after a long travel or have eaten out a bit. Light home cooked meals serve well on such occasions but I can live on such meals even in my everyday life.

This time I had made this Parval ka chokha that I love to bits and keep repeating it till the parval season lasts. Again the recipe is very simple but needs to be accurate to give the same results.

Recipe of Parval ka chokha 

ingredients 

to pressure cook together..
parval (pointed gourd) 10 large ones (scraped and halved)
baby potatoes 2 peeled and halved
salt to taste
1/4 cup water

to finish..
chopped onion 2 tbsp
minced garlic 1 tsp
minced green chillies 1/2 tsp or to taste
chopped coriander greens 1 tbsp
mustard oil 2 tbsp

procedure 

Mix the ingredients for pressure cooking and cook till the first whistle. Let the pressure cooker rest till ready to open. Mash the boiled vegetables with the help of a potato masher or the back of a serving spoon.

Add all the ingredients to finish and serve right away. This parval ka chokha keeps well for a couple of hours at room temperature and tastes great with daal and multigrain rotis or with daal and rice meals.

Try and cook this mung ki daal and parval ka chokha together whenever you need a light meal to cleanse your body of overeating, festive eating or eating out. Or just to have a pleasure of simpler warm meals cooked at home. I assure you wont be disappointed.

Both these Muradabadi mung ki daal and parval ka chokha are one of those foods that I eat in large amounts. Often without any roti or rice to go with it. I am sure you know it already if you have been reading my blogs for some time.

Cheers.

mung daal with fenugreek sprouts | methi wali mung ki daal ...

Methi wali mung ki daal would not make you drool when you hear it. But cook it with fenugreek micro greens or sprouts and see how the mung ki daal transforms with a hint of garlic and ghee.

Mung ki daal gets repeated the most in my kitchen. Not only because it is a healthy lentil, I love the taste and cook the mung ki daal in many different ways and the daal behaves differently with different treatments given to it. Like if pressure cooked, the daal is a buttery texture, if pan cooked the daal remains a little coarse but with so much more taste and a mild aroma in it. Mung ki sookhi daal is another favourite of mine. I add baby spinach to mung daal more frequently and sometimes bathua leaves whenever I want to add some greens to the mung daal, but methi greens are rare in my mung daal. Unless it is tender methi (fenugreek) sprouts.

The fenugreek sprouts are actually sort of micro greens of methi. I often sprinkle some methi seeds in a plastic packaging tray that comes with meat or chicken from the meat shop. It is easy to grow micro greens of some seeds in such re-purposed trays or containers, just fill them up with a layer of soil after poking holes in the bottom and sprinkle the seeds, water the tray sparsely and wait for 2-3 weeks. The micro greens or sprouts will make you happy for salads or curries.

You can grow such micro greens of mustard, radishes, peas and chickpeas easily. Just snip them, rinse well and enjoy home grown greens.

This recipe of mung daal with methi sprouts is easy, but takes about half an hour to cook at a leisurely pace since I prefer doing it in a pan. This daal is always cooked when I have a peaceful alone time in the kithcen and do some more chores along with the daal being cooked with all it's aromas to fill me up.

Pressure cooking saves time and you can always do that if you are okay with the textures.

ingredients..
(2 servings)
dhuli mung (skinned mung beans) 1/2 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt 1/2 tsp or to taste
water 1.5 cups (more if required)
fenugreek sprouts 1.5 cups
chopped garlic 2 tsp
mild green chillies chopped 2-3 tbsp or to taste
cumin seeds 1 tsp
ghee 1 tbsp or a bit more if you like

procedure..

Cook the mung daal along with water, turmeric powder and salt in a deep pan over medium to low flame. Keep stirring in between to avoid spilling the watery liquid. The daal takes about 15-20 minutes to cook to desirable texture. Add small amounts of water if required during the cooking time. Do not cover the pan as the daal is likely to spill over if you cover it.

Prepare a tempering with ghee and cumin when the daal is cooked. Heat ghee in a separate pan, add the cumin seeds and wait till they splutter and get aromatic. Add a pinch of hing if you like and then tip in the garlic and wait till the garlic gets pink. Take the pan off the heat, add the green chillies and the methi sprouts, mix well quickly and pour over the cooked daal. Stir lightly and cover for a couple of minutes before serving it.

This daal is best eaten just after the tempering. It makes a meal for me sometimes, or a roti and a large serving of a plain vegetable curry is what I like with this.

You might like to use a little more ghee to the tempering, please go ahead and add more ghee especially if you are not having any other fats or carbs with this daal.

This is truly satvik food, cooked to heal and nourish the body, mind and soul. Mung daal has always been the food for breaking fasts, for cleansing and for light eating. With fenugreek sprouts it becomes so fragrant and flavourful. The garlic is the only non satvik element in the daal if you talk in strict Hindu terms, but who cares when garlic has so much healing properties and is so yummy. I would recommend using the mild green chillies in this daal and use them liberally as the chilly capsaicin adds immense flavours to this daal.

I use the Anahiem type green peppers a lot, they are called Bangalore chillies here and lend a great taste to a few curries I cook. We had a nice mutton mince curry with lots of these peppers and loved it so much. The recipe is coming soon. Stay tuned.

ajwaini arbi and a malabar spinach daal : a meal from your childhood

Ajwaini arbi lifts up a simple meal with it's burst of flavors. The bland arbi gets a nice spicy-tangy coating to be shallow fried till crisp. Goodness in a slimy bland vegetable believe me.

Arbi is colocasia rhizome and I rarely cook this vegetable as the husband doesn't like it much and I don't feel like working on a vegetable which is not green. I get the colocasia leaves whenever I spot them and make this layered rolls called patoda or patra but the rhizome get neglected though it is available throughout the year.

But then I have a habit of buying vegetables by the looks, the most fresh looking vegetables are bought instantly and when I saw these plump and long Arbi at our Mother Dairy outlet sometime back, I couldn't imagine ignoring them. Promptly bought four of those long and plump rhizomes and came back thinking of the ajwaini arbi as the large arbis would make nice steak like fries.

Ajawaini arbi is something you can have on the side if planning a daal-chawal meal. They provide a meaty flavorful tangy-spicy fulfilment to plain dal-chawal meals. This time I was making a nice arhar ki daal with malabar spinach (poi saag) with plain boiled rice and ajwaini arbi fitted in perfectly.

ingredients:
(2 servings as a side dish)
4 large colocasia rhizomes (large arbis)
1/2 cup besan (chickpeas flour)
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp ajwain seeds
red chilly powder to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil to shallow fry (about 2 tbsp but the arbi does not absorb all the oil)

procedure:

Boil the arbis in pressure cooker till done. The cooking time will depend on the size of arbis and also on how mature they are so cook for 2-3 minutes under pressure first, check and then cook again if you find them raw. A knife prick will confirm if it is done.

Peel the arbi and keep aside.

Mix all the other ingredients except oil and spread in a shallow plate.

Press the peeled arbi over this dry mix so that the rhizomes get flattened. Coat well with the dry besan mix both sides and shallow fry in hot oil using a flat based frying pan.

Serve hot with daal-chawal meal. The dish takes just about 5 minutes once you have boiled arbis so shallow fry them when the daal and rice are cooked and ready to serve.

I had made this arhar ki daal with malabar spinach with a generous garlic tadka and we loved this meal. I am totally a daal loving person and spinach or any kind of greens in my daal is an absolute delight. I can live on daals and often crave my daals.

The recipe of this daal can be seen here at Down to Earth magazine where I did an article on Malabar spinach. Malabar spinach is a garden vine that many of us grow and keep using frequently. It has many health benefits and is a good substitute for spinach in some recipes. I will post a pumpkin subzi soon with malabar spinach. Stay tuned in.

mung ki sookhi daal made two ways...

Mung ki sookhi daal is something that has a texture of hummus, smooth creamy on the palate and yet separate grains of this wonderful lentil make this daal really unique from regular daal recipes.

Yes, this is one of the few simple recipes of daal that taste so different from the regular fare. Daal is such a versatile dish in Indian cuisine and gets so many treatments depending on what state it belongs to. This sookhi mung ki daal is more of a north India thing, made in UP, Punjab, probably Bihar as well. I have seen a variation of sookhi mung ki daal in Bengali families too, they make a mung daal sheddho (boiled mash) which is a nice mash of boiled mung daal, more like a hummus with mustard oil or ghee and some chopped green chilly, chopped onion and sometimes a hint of dhaniya patta.

Our daals definitely get different flavors form different states, even different families of the same state or city.

So this sookhi mung ki daal is a little difficult to achieve and many people just don't cook it because it ends up being a solid gooyi mess or the cooked lentils feel too dry.

I cook this sookhi mung ki daal two ways depending on how dry I like it and if I am adding coriander greens or fresh baby spinach to it. If you want to mix some hopped greens in the daal it needs to have a little liquid so the chopped coriander greens are incorporated well into it.

ingredients :
(2-3 large servings)

split mung daal 1 cup
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
water 2 cups + 1/2 cup
ghee 2 tbsp
red chilly flakes 1/2 tsp or more to taste
asafoetida a pinch
cumin seeds 2 tsp
chopped garlic 1 tsp
coriander greens chopped 1/2 cup Or baby spinach, no need to chop those tender leaves

procedure :

Pressure cook the mung daal with the said amount of water, salt and turmeric powder. Cook only till the whistle blows and then take the cooker off the heat. Let it cool on it's own.

Heat ghee in a small pan and add the asafoetida, chopped garlic and cumin seeds, wait till everything gets browned a bit. Add the chilly flakes and pour it all into the cooked daal along with 1/2 cup water. Add half of the coriander greens (or spinach if using) and give it a good mix. Simmer for 3-5 minutes till everything is incorporated and daal is a thick consistency.

Garnish with more coriander greens and serve hot. We love it with ragi or whole wheat rotis , pita crisps and even with rice. Being an absilute daal lover I can have it as a meal.

The leftovers are diluted with water, and some rolled out ragi dough (cut into strips) is added to make it into a nice daal dhokli meal.

My comfort food, I plan daal leftovers for this.

And now is the absolutely dry version of sookhi mung ki daal. For this one I pressure cook the daal twice and the cooked lentil looks separate but you can't mix it further as it would result in a hummus like paste. Not that it would taste bad, but it wont be suitable for our dal roti meals. You are supposed to 'spoon' the daal using a piece of roti and enjoy this bite with utter bliss.

ingredients :

split mung daal 1 cup
water 2 cups
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
asafoetida solution (1 tbsp water+ a pinch of asafoetida)
tejpatta 2
ghee 2 tbsp and some more to serve
cumin seeds 2 tsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste

preparation :

Pressure cook the mung daal with salt, turmeric powder, tejpatta, asafoetida solution and the said amount of water. Cook only till the first whistle blows and take off heat, let it cool on it's own.

Heat ghee in a small pan, add the cumin seeds and let them brown and get aromatic, taking care not to burn them. Take the pan off heat, add the chilly powder and let the chilly disperse in the ghee as it cooks. Pour this tadka as soon as the pressure cooker cools down. Mix well and cover the lid again and pressure cook again till the first whistle. You might need to add 1/4 cup of water before the second round of pressure cooking, if you don't see enough liquid to cook it again.

Serve hot with a drizzle of ghee. This is very aromatic mung ki daal and the ghee makes it even better.

Have it with roti and some subzi and raita/salad on the side. And do let me know if you liked it.

masoor daal ka nimona | a winter stew with lentils and cauliflowers..

Masoor daal ka nimona is one of those winter stews made in eastern UP that uses seasonal vegetables and lentils in it's full glory. Daals cooked with vegetables and mild spicing would be a good idea to pack in everything in just one dish and have some hot chapatis or rice going with it. Of course there always is some raw salad and some winter pickles on the side for a busy homemaker. Green garlic shoots pickle is one of them enjoyed with such meals.

These stews are simple homely flavors, cooked with ease, especially useful for someone who has to cook for a large family or in a limited time, or both. I have tasted many versions of this stew, some had the cauliflowers all muddled up with the daal, some had a few bits floating here and there and some had loads of green peas in it too. Some people added fried lentil vadis to this stew to make them more flavorful. All of them are tasty owing to the taste of seasonal vegetables and liberal use of coriander greens.

Actually it was my sister who reminded me of this nimona. She was cooking this one day and called me for something. And then she asked me what was cooking. She was not impressed by whatever I was cooking that day and announced with a gleaming voice that she had made masoor daal ka gobhi matar wala nimona. That too with added vadis. The dinner was decided then and there. Such things make you crave for the long forgotten flavors.

ingredients...

red lentils 1 cup
cauliflower florets 2 cups
peeled and cubed potato 1/2 cup
roughly chopped tomatoes 1 cup
finely chopped garlic 2 tsp
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
chopped coriander greens 1/2 cup

procedure...

Wash the red lentils and cook in pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Cook for 4 minutes after the first whistle blows, lowering the flame after the whistle.

Heat mustard oil in a separate pan while the daal cooks, and tip in the cumin. Wait till they crackle and then add the potato cubes and salt to taste. Stir fry and cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame and then add the cauliflower florets and the garlic and ginger chopped. Crank up the flame and stir fry for just 2 minutes more.

Add the powder spices, mix well and stir fry for a minute more. Take off heat.

Add this cooked vegetables mixture to the cooked daal and let them all simmer for 10 minutes on low flame. The cauliflower florets should be firm but you can cook them mushy if you like.

Finish cooking by adding the coriander greens. Serve hot as a meal or as an accompaniment to a roti or rice kinda meal. You can always serve it with some butter or ghee on top.

You can add some green peas too to this stew or some fried lentil vadis (called badiyan in Hindi)

Chaney ki dal, masale wali | spicy chana dal from Uttar Pradesh

Spicy chana dal or chane ki dal is a popular everyday dal recipe all across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. some people like adding some cubed lauki (bottle gourd) to this spicy chana dal and some like it without the vegetable. Served with parathas or roti or even with plain boiled rice, this chane ki dal makes a simple everyday meal special with its flavours.

This is not any other dal in fact. The spice quotient may vary in different homes but everyone calls it masale wali chane ki dal as bhuna masala is an integral part of this chane ki dal.

I had actually forgotten about this daal as a close sibling of this dal is a Bengali version which I had adopted about a decade ago and have been loving it since then.

Someone requested for this recipe and I made it the same day. This is one such recipe you would want to cook right away if you are reminded of the taste. I think this is the daal version of chhole. Cooks faster because there is no soaking time. Thank you P for requesting this daal as it reminded me of the old times.

 ingredients...
(2-3 servings)

For boiling in pressure cooker..
chana daal (split chickpeas) 1/2 cup
water 1.5 cups
salt to taste
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

To make the masala tempering...
ghee 1 tbsp
1 tsp cumin seeds
finely diced onions 2 tbsp
ginger 1 inch piece
garlic 3 cloves
whole dry red chillies 3 or to taste
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 small black cardamom or split into half if you have a big one
a half inch piece of cinnamon
3-4 cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp amchoor powder (optional)

procedure...

Boil the daal with the suggested ingredients in the first list. Lower the flame after the first whistle and then cook for 12-15 minutes. I normally rely on my nose to smell the cooked daal aroma. Let the pressure cooker cool down on it's own.

The daal can be cooked in a pan as well. takes about 40 minutes to cook on medium heat.

Grind everything together on the second list, except the ghee, 1tsp cumin seeds and the diced onions. Add a litle water while grinding to make a smooth paste. Keep aside.

To prepare the masala tadka, heat the ghee and tip in the cumin seeds. Wait till they crackle and then add the diced onions and fry them till pinkish brown.

Pour the ground masala paste to this frying onions pan, add salt to taste and keep stirring and bhuno till a bhuna aroma wafts through. Bhuna is the word for frying the spice mix while scraping the base of the pan so the masala paste becomes very uniquely aromatic. In the end, the masala paste should get a shining glaze and  if you use more ghee there will be some ghee separated from the masala.

Pour the boiled daal mix to this bhuna masala and give it a gentle boil.

Serve hot with a tsp of ghee on top.

Goes best with chapatis, plain parathas and pooris. Some people like it with pulav and plain boiled rice as well. You can try tbis daal with naan, kulcha or even Bhatoora for that matter.

I told you it's the younger cousin of the Punjabi chhole. Gets cooked immediately and tastes as good.

This Chane ki daal is a specialty dish served the next day of a wedding in some families, along with Kadhi, Chawal and Dahi bade, off course a few more things on the side. I was reminded of this by P who requested me for this recipe. I myself don't remember having this daal at a wedding function as I skip meals a lot during such get togethers.

The daal was made during summer months in my family along with some guard family plain vegetables so the cooling vegetables can be enjoyed while still having something spicy on the side.

Let me know what way you enjoy this daal.

daal bati chokha | making sattu wali litti , baingan ka chokha and arhar ki daal

Daal bati chokha or litti chokha aur daal as we call it, this kind of meal comes under the most favorite types in my household. A hearty meal with all the rustic flavors to appease the hunger, the taste buds and olfactory nerves all at once. Not to mention the fun cooking process.

For many people it has been an extensive work and a dreaded kind of meal because of long cooking time it is supposed to involve. Let me make it simple for you. I have been cooking baati and litti using my microwave and gas stove and it gets ready within minutes. Actually it is more convenient than making chapatis as it doesn't involve rolling and baking on the griddle. Daal and chokha are cooked conveniently too. Chopping some more garlic than usual would be well worth if you are anticipating daal baati chokha for dinner or for a weekend lunch.

Recently, during my Banaras visit i prepared daal baati chokha twice for extended family and friends and it was a baati masterclass for a few people out there ... I have taught many people to make litti and baati this way and it has become the only way to make it in many families around me since then. Very few of my real family and friends know about a litti post i did long time back on this blog, they get live demonstrations so they don't value written words on these pages...i don't mind that though :)

We wanted another round of daal baati chokha after coming home too, this is an addictive kind of meal believe me. The more you have it, the more you want.

The pictures are not very god because it was made for dinner and artificial light does make it look dull and lifeless, so do not go by the looks here as the taste is legendary. Time tested, tradition evolved and loved by all. For me, if a particular kind of dish is made in many regions of the country,  it is a testimony to it's being really good. This recipe is different from Rajasthani baati and more close to Bihari litti chokha , daal baati chokha of UP has a different identity of it's own. I have loved daal bafla of MP too, but that is also quite different from this.

Talking about the difficulty level of this recipe, you just need to concentrate over the daal and chokha and both of them are regular kind of recipes.

Daal is a mix of many lentils cooked conveniently in pressure cooker and tempered with chopped garlic, onion and tomatoes. Simple.

Chokha involves fire roasting the eggplants and tomatoes over gas flame but that can be done in an oven conveniently too. I somehow find it more convenient on gas stove as it is quicker and fun. Just some peeling the burnt skin and mashing with some chopped onion and the chokha is done. Simple.

The whole process of cooking the 3 of these for 2 people takes about 30 minutes. Including roasting , chopping , kneading the dough and assembling everything together.

ingredients and procedure for the baati.... 

Whole wheat flour without any shortening is what i normally use but you can go for a 1 tsp ghee shortening per cup of flour. Knead the flour using water and a little salt making a medium stiff dough. Make balls and flatten the balls to make about 1 cm thick batis , these ones are 5-6 cm diameter , you can make smaller or a bit bigger.

Now grease a MW safe plate with ghee and arrange 6-7 baatis in it and microwave on high for 5 minutes. I made 4 baatis and cooked for 3 minutes.

Place a wire rack on the gas stove and cook the baatis directly over the gas stove immediately after taking them out from the MW. This step has been posted with pictures here.

This flame roasting is to ensure those burnt spots on the surface and it gets a nice crust after this , while the insides are soft and crumbly. You can stuff 1/2 tsp ghee in each of the baati to make it softer and more flavorful too.

Smear ghee, keep them in a covered bowl and serve hot.

Cooking the baati should be the last step in assembling this meal but i wrote it first so you would know how easy and quick it becomes with this technique. Otherwise, making baati is the most tedious job, once this process is made easy you can now think of doing it happily. All the steps of making baati can be handled while cooking the daal and chokha simultaneously.

ingredients and procedure to make the daal...
(2 servings)
toor daal (arhar daal) 1 tbsp
mung daal 1 tbsp
masoor daal(red lentil) 1 tbsp
urad daal (skinned and split black lentil) 1 tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
 for tempering...
ghee 1 tbsp
asafoetida powder a pinch
cumin seeds 1 tsp
minced (not paste) garlic 1 tsp
diced onion 2 tbsp
diced tomatoes 1/2 cup
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
chopped green coriander to garnish
minced ginger 2 tsp

Wash, drain and cook the daals in pressure cooker with salt, turmeric and 4 times water by volume. Cooking time should be 5 minutes after the first whistle.

Heat ghee and add the asafoetida and cumin and wait till the cumin splutters. Tip in the minced garlic and let it brown lightly.

Now add the onion and fry till translucent. Add the tomatoes and a lil salt and cook till the tomatoes are pulped. Add red chilly powder and let it cook for a dew seconds and pour all of this to the cooked daal, let it simmer for a minute, add the minced ginger and chopped coriander, mix well and serve.

ingredients and procedure for the chokha...
(2-3 servings)
one eggplant round variety (approx 200 gm)
2 tomatoes
one medium sized potato
finely diced onion3-4 tbsp
minced garlic 1-2 tsp
minced ginger 2 tsp
minced green chillies to taste
salt to taste mustard oil 1-2 tsp
chopped green coriander as per taste

Roast the eggplant and tomatoes over gas flame or in the oven till cooked.
Keep covered for 10 minutes so the skin can be removed conveniently.
Remove skin and mash both eggplant and tomatoes with cooked potato and mix with all the other ingredients.
Serve hot or warm or cold .

If you want to do it within 30 minutes you should start with placing the eggplant and tomatoes on flame the very first thing. It needs to be turned and rotated every few minutes but you can do the daal preparations side by side. Kneading the dough for 2 servings and assembling the baati is a 10 minute job which requires your hands' involvement constantly.


I hope you found a simple way to enjoy a daal baati chokha whenever you want. A few friends have been asking for a recipe and although it is there on this blog since ages, i wanted to put a fresh post about the beauty of this meal.

Enjoy...