And now, let me add yet another no-onion-no-garlic chickpea recipe to your repertoire.

This curry gets its flavors from tomato sauce, olive oil and Italian seasoning. Pair it with buttered garlic toast or some warm Indian flatbread (I recommend this seed-studded elliptical beauty) for a satisfying meal.

You Need:

To pressure-cook together:

• Dried white chickpeas – 1 cup [buy here]
• Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
• Water – 3 cups

To grind together:

• Tomatoes – 3 medium
• Ginger – 1-inch stick
• Green chili – 1-2 (optional)

For the sauce:

• Paprika powder – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here]
• Oregano – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here]
• Salt – to taste
• Extra-virgin olive oil – 1.5 tablespoons [buy here]
• Sliced olives – a teaspoon, for garnishing [buy here]

Equipment:

• pressure cooker, grinder, lidded pan

The links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

In the picture above (clockwise from left): chickpeas; evoo; sliced olives; paprika powder, oregano; tomatoes, green chilies, ginger.

How To Make Chickpea Curry in Olive Oil:

1. Soak and boil

Wash and place the chickpeas in a large bowl. Pour water for soaking the chickpeas till the level of water is over twice the height of the chickpeas.

Set the bowl aside for 8 hours or overnight.

The chickpeas will absorb the water, soften and swell. Drain the excess water (tip: don’t throw this water away! give it to your plants) and rinse the chickpeas. They are now ready to pressure cook.

Transfer the soaked chickpeas to a pressure cooker. Top with 3 cups of water, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Lock the lid and cook till the chickpeas are soft to bite. If using an Indian style pressure cooker, cook on high heat till you hear the first whistle, then set heat to low and cook for another 15 mins. Let the pressure release naturally.

2. Grind

De-eye the tomatoes, core them if hard in the center. Skin the ginger. Cut the top off the chilies; deseed the chilies if you like the sauce mildly hot, else let the seeds remain for more heat.

Place the tomatoes, ginger and chilies in the grinder.

Puree.

3. Make the sauce

Heat a thick-bottomed pan. Add to the pan a tablespoon of olive oil along with the tomato puree.

Simmer with lid on for 15 minutes, shaking the pan every 5 minutes. Add a tablespoon or two of chickpea water if the sauce starts drying up.

Add salt to taste and paprika powder to the sauce.

Mix in and tip in the chickpeas along with the water they were boiled in.

Continue to cook covered for another 10 minutes or till the sauce reaches the thickness you like.

Stir in the remaining olive oil and oregano.

Chickpea curry in olive oil is ready. Serve hot garnished with sliced olives.

Notes:

Try more dishes cooked in olive oil:

Also check out these dry legume recipes:

The post Chickpea Curry in Olive Oil appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

You Need:

[For 4 servings]

• Yellow moong dal – 1 cup [buy here]
• Turmeric powder – 1/3 teaspoon [buy here]
• Salt – 1 teaspoon or to taste
• Equipment*: pressure cooker [buy here]

*Note: If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can boil the moong dal in any other pan till the dal softens. This will take considerably longer than pressure cooking, but it works.

For the seasoning:

• Jaggery powder – 1 teaspoon [buy here]
• Fresh lime juice – 1 tablespoon
• Ginger – 1-inch stick, crushed
• Curry leaves – ~10
• Green chilies – 2
• Dry red chili – 1, cut into pieces [buy here]
• Peanut or vegetable oil – 1 tablespoon
• Equipment*: tadka ladle [buy here]

The links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

In the picture above (clockwise from bottom-right): curry leaves, yellow moong, turmeric powder, salt, jaggery, moong dal, condiment bowl (ginger, green chili, dry red chili, lime), cumin seeds.

How To Make Ginger Lime Moong Dal:

1. Boil the moong dal

Wash a cup of dry yellow moong in several changes of water till the water runs clear.

Soak in two cups of water for an hour.

Drain, wash again and transfer the soaked yellow dal to a pressure cooker.

Add to the pressure cooker four cups of water and a pinch of turmeric.

Lock the lid of the pressure cooker and boil on high heat till the pressure cooker whistles, then reduce heat to low and boil for another five minutes.

Switch off the heat and let the cooker cool till the lid comes off easily.

The dal would have softened. Mash lightly. Stir in salt and jaggery.

2. Do the tadka

Crush the ginger and green chilis together.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a tadka ladle. When the oil is hot, set heat to low and drop into the ladle the following in quick succession, stirring as soon as the ingredients sizzle: cumin seeds, dry red chili pieces, crushed ginger and green chili, curry leaves.

Take the ladle off the heat as soon as the ginger loses its raw aroma and turn the tempered oil into the dal.

Deglaze the tadka ladle: After pouring out the tadka into the dal, scoop out half a cupful of dal and place it in the tadka ladle. Using a spoon, swirl the dal around in the ladle so that it picks up the residual tadka oil. Pour the dal from the ladle back in with the rest of the dal.

Serve ginger lime moong dal hot with rice or Indian bread.

Meal below: beetroot paratha, crispy plantain fry, spinach raita, ginger lime moong dal, fresh tomato wedges.

Notes:

Looking for more recipes with healing properties? Try these

Want more moong dal recipes? Check out:

The post Ginger Lime Moong Dal appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

To make panchmel dal (literally, “five-blend” dal), I take equal quantities of these five legumes: toor dal, masoor dal, yellow moong, chana dal, white urad dal.

Feel free to change things up – vary the proportions, use black urad in place of white, add a dash of green moong. This is a flexible, forgiving recipe – do what you will, it tastes delicious anyway!

You Need:

[For 3-4 servings]

For the five-legume mix:

• Toor dal – 1/5 cup [buy here]
• Chana dal – 1/5 cup [buy here]
• Moong dal – 1/5 cup [buy here]
• Masoor dal – 1/5 cup [buy here]
• Urad dal – 1/5 cup [buy here]

For the masala:

• Tomatoes – 2 medium
• Fenugreek leaves* – 50 grams
• Ginger – 1-inch stick
• Green chili -1, slit vertically
• Salt – 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
• Red chili powder – 1/4 teaspoon [buy here]
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon [buy here]
• Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon [buy here]
• Green cardamom – 1 [buy here]
• Cinnamon – 1-inch stick [buy here]
• Cloves – 3 [buy here]
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here]
• Oil – 1/2 tablespoon

*If fresh fenugreek is not available, replace with a tablespoon of kasoori methi.

For the tadka:

• Dry red chilies – 2, broken
• Garlic – ~1 teaspoon, finely chopped
• Ghee – 1 tablespoon

For garnishing:

• Fresh coriander leaves – a few sprigs, chopped

The links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

How To Make Panchmel Dal:

1. Prep the legumes

Place all the five dals in a large container or bowl. Wash the dals in several changes of water till the water runs clear.

Pour three cups of plain water into the container for soaking the dals. Set aside for two hours.

After two hours, the dals would have swelled somewhat. Drain the water and move on to the next step: make the masala base.

2. Make the masala base

Roughly chop the tomatoes. Scrape and crush or finely chop the ginger.

If using fresh fenugreek, pluck the leaves and chop them coarsely. Discard the stems.

Heat half a tablespoon of oil in the pressure cooker. Add the following spices to hot oil (turn down the heat to minimum when you do this): cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, coriander seeds. Stir around as the whole spices toast and sizzle – be careful to not let anything burn.

As soon as the cumin seeds turn color (this will take only a few seconds), add the chopped ginger and slit green chili to the oil.

Follow with chopped fenugreek and turmeric powder. Stir around to mix everything with the toasted spices.

Turn the heat up again and add chopped tomatoes, red chili powder and salt.

Cook till the tomatoes are slightly mushy.

3. Boil it all together

Transfer the soaked dals to the pressure cooker.

Fry the dals along with the masala base for two minutes.

Pour three cups of water into the dal. Add salt to taste

Lock the lid of the pressure cooker and set the heat to high till you get the first whistle. Set the heat to low and cook for another ten minutes.

Switch off the heat and let the pressure cooker release its steam naturally till the lid comes off without effort. Unlock the lid and this step and mash the dal lightly. Stir in fresh coriander leaves.

We are now ready for the final step – the tadka.

4. Do the tadka

Heat ghee in a tadka ladle on low heat.

When the ghee is hot, tip into it minced garlic and dry red chilies.

As soon as the garlic turns golden and the chilies crisp up, take the ladle off the heat, pour it into the dal and cover.

Panchmel dal is ready to eat.

Serve hot along with rice or chapatis.

Meal below: panchmel dal, stuffed ridge gourd, mooli pickle, chapatis.

Notes:

Try other exotic dal recipes:

The post Panchmel Dal: Five Legume Medley appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

You Need:

[For 3-4 servings]

• Masoor dal (red lentil) – 1 small cup [buy here]
• Chana dal (Bengal gram) – 1 tablespoon [buy here]
• Onion – 1 small, finely chopped (~2 tablespoons)
• Ginger – 1/2 inch stick, finely chopped
• Green chilies – 1
• Salt – to taste
• Red chili powder – 1/4 teaspoon [buy here]
• Coriander powder – 1/4 teaspoon [buy here]
• Cumin powder – 1/4 teaspoon [buy here
• Turmeric powder – a large pinch [buy here]
• Vegetable or peanut oil – for deep frying

The links above are amazon.com affiliate links. The Steaming Pot will earn a small commission if you buy via the links, at no additional cost to you.

How To Make Red Lentil Fritters:

1. Soak the dals

Wash masoor dal and chana dal together in several changes of water till the water runs clear. Soak the dals in three cups of water for at least six hours, or overnight.

The dals absorb the water on soaking, swell and soften. Drain the water, wash again and get ready to grind.

2. Grind

Place the soaked dals in a food processor. Make sure that the water has been completely strained out.

Add chopped ginger and green chilies.

Grind to coarse paste.

Add salt to taste along with the dry spices: cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder.

Grind again.

Transfer the dal paste to a bowl. Knead in finely chopped onions.

Cover and refrigerate for an hour, before you plan to fry the fritters.

2. Fry

Pluck small bite-sized balls of the dal paste.

In a thick-bottomed kadhai or skillet, heat some oil for deep-frying.

When the oil is hot, set heat to low and gently place a few dal balls. Make sure the balls are not jostling for space.(Smile in anticipation as the oil bubbles and sizzles and turns aromatic :) )

When the bottoms have turned golden, turn the dal balls over and let the other side fry till golden too.

When done, take the fritters out of the kadhai carefully using a slotted spoon and place them on absorbent kitchen paper.

Repeat frying the dal balls in small batches till all are done.

During the process, pour in more oil when you need to, and turn up the heat briefly if the pan cools down.

Serve masoor dal pakodi hot with onion rings, chaat masala, lime wedges and chutney/sauce…

…or use them in aloo badi ki sabzi. [Recipe to follow later!]

Notes:

You can freeze these fritters for later use in curries, they stay good for several days when frozen.

Check out other similar Indian snack delicacies:

Try these masoor dal recipes from The Steaming Pot archives:

The post Masoor Dal Pakodi: Red Lentil Fritters appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Masoor dal (red lentil) is among the most malleable of legumes – once it reaches a boil, it doesn’t take long for it to mush up. Plus it has a mild taste that makes eminently suitable for playing host to assorted vegetables. These qualities of masoor make it work beautifully as a base for soup.

You Need:

• Masoor dal (red lentil) – 1 cup [buy here]
• Potato – 1 medium
• Carrot – 2 medium (~150 grams)
• Spinach – 3-4 leaves
• Onion – 1 medium
• Green chili – 1 (more if you want it hotter)
• Pepper corns – 6-7
• Salt – 1/3 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/3 teaspoon
• Fresh coriander leaves – a few sprigs for garnishing
• Ghee or butter – 1/2 tablespoon

For the tadka:

• Amchoor powder* (raw mango powder) – 1/3 teaspoon
• Red chili flakes/paprika powder – 1/3 teaspoon
• Garlic – 4 small cloves (~1 teaspoon when chopped)
• Ghee or butter – 1/2 tablespoon
• Salt – a tiny pinch

*If you don’t have amchoor powder, substitute with a squeeze of half a lime in the end.

How To Make Vegetable Red Lentil Soup:

1. Prep the ingredients

Wash red lentil in 3-4 changes of water or till the water runs clear. Soak it in two cups of plain water for an hour.

Peel the onion. Scrape the carrot. Chop both into 1-cm cubes.

Peel the potato. Chop it into similar small pieces.

2. Cook

Heat half a tablespoon of ghee or butter in a thick-bottomed pan or pressure cooker. Add to the pan the chopped onion, carrots, potatoes, pepper corns and green chili. Sauté for five minutes or till the onions are translucent.

Mix 1/3 teaspoon of turmeric powder with the vegetables. Drain the soaking red lentil and transfer it to the pan.

Cook together for a minute, then add three cups of hot water along with salt to taste. Tear the spinach leaf into small pieces and plop them too into the pan.

If using an Indian-style pressure cooker, lock its lid and keep the heat on high till you hear a whistle. Then set the heat to low and cook till the second whistle. Switch off the heat and let the cooker release steam naturally.

If not using a pressure cooker, let the dal and vegetables simmer till they are soft and give way when pressed.

Crush vegetable pieces slightly so that they blend into the dal – you could do this in a food processor or using a hand blender or potato masher.

We are now ready for the final touch – the tadka.

3. Do the tadka

Heat half a tablespoon of butter or ghee in a tadka ladle. When it melts, add to it finely chopped garlic. Keep stirring/swirling to prevent burning. Toast the garlic till they are gold-rimmed. Switch off the heat and add to the sizzling garlic a pinch of salt and half a teaspoon each of red chili powder + amchoor powder.

Ladle the dal into serving bowls and sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves. Drizzle the chili-garlic tadka all over. And that’s it – vegetable red lentil soup is ready – dig in! Serve hot as a soup or on the side with a bigger Indian meal.

Meal below: vegetable red lentil soup, methi gobhi, kachumber, potato fries, chapatis.

Notes:

Variation: experiment with other vegetables in this soup: cauliflower and sweet potato, for example.

Like the idea of combining vegetables with dal? Then you should check out these recipes:

The post Vegetable Masoor Dal: Red Lentil Soup appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

My version is lighter than the traditional madra recipe and calls for fewer spices, based primarily on what was on hand – I simply call it “dahi chhole” instead of madra as I have probably strayed too far from the template…

This recipe is adapted from the (gorgeously beautiful!) blog My Tryst With Food And Travel.

Ingredients:

[Serves 2]

For the chhole:

• Dried chickpeas / garbanzo beans – 1 cup
• Salt – to taste
• Water – 3 cups

For the yogurt curry:

• Plain yogurt – 2 cups
• Salt – to taste
• Turmeric powder – 1/3 teaspoon
• Chili powder – 1/3 teaspoon
• Cumin powder – 1/2 teaspoon

For the tadka:

• Raisins – 1 tablespoon
• Coriander seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Peppercorns – 4
• Green cardamom – 1
• Cinnamon stick – 1/2 inch
• Dried chili – 1
• Cloves – 2
• Bay leaf – 1
• Cumin seeds – 1/3 teaspoon
• Ghee – 1 tablespoon

In the picture above: (inner katori) cardamom pod, cinnamon, cloves, dry chili, cumin seeds; (outer katori) bay leaf, coriander seeds, pepper corns.

How To Make Dahi Chhole:

1. Soak and boil the chickpeas

Soak a small cup of chickpeas overnight in 3 cups of water. As they soak, the chickpeas would absorb the water, soften and plump up.

[Note: if you soak too long, a foamy layer might form on the water’s surface. If this happens, drain the water, rinse the chickpeas well and submerge again in fresh water till you’re ready to cook. In general, do not soak more than 8-9 hours.]

Drain the soaked chickpeas, rinse in a change of water.

Boil the chickpeas till soft. I do this in an Indian-style pressure cooker: add 3 cups of water to the soaked chickpeas along with a large pinch of salt. Lock the lid of the cooker, then boil on high heat till the pressure cooker gives off a whistle, then cook on low heat for another 15 minutes. Let the pressure in the cooker reduce naturally till the lid can come off easily.

Lift the boiled chickpeas out using a slotted spoon. Keep the water aside to either thin out the curry if you wish, or for kneading paratha dough.

2. Prep the yogurt

[Do this 1-2 hours before you plan to cook this curry]

Take the yogurt out of the refrigerator, let it reach room temperature before it is cooked.

Whisk the dry spice powders with the yogurt: turmeric powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, salt.

Whisk the yogurt well till smooth. Set aside till you are ready to cook.

3. Do the tadka

Place pepper corns, coriander seeds, cinnamon and cardamon pod in a mortar.

Using a pestle, crush them to a coarse powder.

In a thick bottomed pan, heat two teaspoons of ghee.

When the ghee is hot, add to it in quick succession: bay leaf, cumin seeds, cloves, dry chili.

As soon as the cumin seeds begin to crackle, tip the coarsely ground spices into the hot ghee. Stir quickly, then add a tablespoon of raisins. Give it one final stir and take the pan off the heat.

Let the pan cool to room temperature.

4. Put it all together

When the tadka pan has cooled, pour the seasoned yogurt into the pan.

Whisk very well.

Caution: You must wait till the tadka pan’s heat and yogurt’s coolness have converged towards a happy medium. Impatience at this step will lead to an ugly curdled curry.

Place the pan with the tadka-yogurt mixture back to cook. Now, with the heat set to very low and the ladle stirring the yogurt continuously, bring the curry to a gentle bubbling boil.

Add the boiled chickpeas into the yogurt curry. If you want a thinner curry, add some of the water the chickpeas were boiled in (that you had kept aside in step 1). Continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring all the while.

Dahi chhole is ready to eat.

Serve dahi chhole alongside jeera rice, parathas, pooris, or plain boiled rice for a delicious, filling meal.

Notes:

Try other ways of cooking chickpeas, Indian style: the classic Punjabi channa masala, methi chhole with a fresh fenugreek twist, vrat-friendly channa sundal with coconut, or a simple home-style aloo chhole.

The post Dahi Chhole: Chickpeas in Yogurt Curry appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

All you need is some pre-planning: put chana dal to soak overnight if you plan to make it the next morning.

You Need:

Stuffing ingredients:

• Chana dal – 1 cup [buy here]
• Ginger – 1-inch stick, finely chopped
• Garlic – 4 fat cloves, finely chopped
• Carom seeds (ajwain) – 1 teaspoon [buy here]
• Dry mango powder (amchoor) – 1/2 teaspoon [buy here]
• Green chilies – 2, finely chopped
• Salt – to taste

For the dough:

• Atta (whole wheat flour) – 1 cup
• Water – for kneading
• Salt – to taste

For cooking:

• Ghee – 1 teaspoon per paratha

How To Make Dal Paratha:

1. Boil the dal

Wash chana dal well and soak it overnight (or for ~6 hours) in three cups of water.

Drain and rinse well.

Place the soaked dal in a pressure cooker in two cups of water. Lock the lid and cook on high heat till one whistle. Switch off the heat and let the pressure reduce naturally till the lid comes off with ease.

The dal should be cooked enough to get mashed, but not so much to dissolve into water.

Strain to separate the water from the boiled dal. Don’t throw this water away – use it for kneading the dough in the next step or for thinning out curries/soup.

Let the boiled, strained chana dal rest in the strainer for 15-20mins as it cools down.

2. Prepare the stuffing

After the dal has cooled enough to handle, give it a final squeeze to push out any residual water. You can now mash/crumble the boiled dal to form the base of the stuffing.

To the mashed dal, add the seasonings: finely chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies, carom seeds, amchoor powder, salt to taste.

Mash together well. Chana dal stuffing is ready to be filled into the parathas. Set aside till you prepare the dough.

3. Prepare the dough

Sprinkle a pinch of salt over dry wheat flour (atta). Sift it together to mix. Knead the atta as you would for chapatis.

[Note: Steps 1,2 and 3 need not be sequential. You could prepare the dough while the dal boils, though in that case you wouldn’t be able to use the dal water for kneading the dough.]

4. Fill them up

Make equal-sized elliptical balls of the dough, about 3-cms in diameter. Flatten each dough ball between your palms, make a little crater using your hands and stuff a tablespoon of dal into it.

Pull up the ends of the dough gently and pinch the “mouth” close, taking care not to (i) tear holes into the dough (ii) stretch unevenly.

The dough ball must now look modak-shaped; press and mould to make it elliptical back again.

Repeat till you are through with all the dough.

5. Roll and cook

For each paratha:

Flatten a stuffed dough ball, smear it with dry atta to prevent sticking while rolling. Roll it out on a flat surface using a rolling pin. Use more dry atta to dust the surface in case the dough begins to stick after rolling half-way.

Note: In a contest between shape and form, form wins – if not in art then at least in paratha-making.

If a certain stroke of the rolling pin will distort your paratha’s disk-like shape but smoothen a doughy bulge, go for it.

If another stroke can salvage its amoeboid appearance but will break open the stretched skin and spill out the dal, resist it.

Of COURSE you must get both right eventually. Parathas perfectly rounded – no raw patches post-cooking, no gaping holes on the surface – is the Holy Grail. Till you haven’t attained that ideal, do as I say: let the shape stray if it comes at the cost of form.

Roll till the dough is stretched thin enough to reveal a translucent vision of dal underneath, and stop at that – about 5 inches in diameter.

Heat a wide, flat pan for cooking the paratha. Place the rolled out paratha on the pan, on medium-high heat. Cook it till the surface facing the heat has started to brown.

Flip the paratha over. You might have to keep adjusting the heat – if the pan gets smoky, set the heat to low.

On the toasted paratha surface now facing up, smear half a teaspoon of ghee.

When the surface heatwards is done, flip it over again and smear this side as well with half a teaspoon of ghee.

Cook both sides of the paratha till toasted to your liking.

Chana dal paratha is ready to serve. Repeat step 5 for all the parathas.

To Serve:

Serve chala dal parathas hot with accompaniments like raita, pickle, chutney.

Meal below: dal parathas with homemade dahi, red capsicum curry, aloo chutney.

Notes:

Check out other interesting recipes to try out with chana dal:

Want more stuffed parathas? Try:

The post Dal Paratha: Flatbread with Chana Dal Stuffing appeared first on The Steaming Pot.