I have used here the graffiti eggplant, which is purple with pale stripes – more specifically called Purple Rain. You could use the all-purple baby eggplant too. Just pick a variety that’s low on seeds.

You Need:

• Baby eggplant* – 6
• Onions – 2
• Tomatoes – 2
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Ginger – 1 inch piece
• Garlic – 4 small cloves
• Pepper corns – 6-8
• Dry red chilies – 4
• Bay leaf – 1 (skip if you don’t have it)
• Cloves – 3
• Cardamom – 2
• Cinnamon stick – 1/2 inch
• Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Oil – 2 tablespoons

*Pick even-sized eggplant with smooth skin.

How To Make Baingan Masala:

1. Prep the eggplant

Chop off the stalk from each eggplant.

Make cuts into each eggplant, starting from the head towards the tip but not all the way through. For small eggplant, make two perpendicular cuts to form quarters. For larger ones, make three or four equidistant cuts to form sectors.

Follow the soaking steps to prevent discoloration of the cut eggplant.

In a wide, flat thick-bottomed pan, spread a tablespoon of oil and heat. Place the eggplants, slit-side down, into the hot oil. Arrange them so that the comparitively larger ones are towards the center of the heat.

Cook on medium-low heat, covered, till the side facing down is golden-brown.

Turn sideways, and let the sides cook all around.

Keep turning and cooking till evenly done.

This will take around 15 minutes in all.

While the eggplant cooks, you can go on to steps 2 and 3 for the curry.

2. Make the spice paste

In a grinder, place the bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, dry red chilies, pepper corns, ginger, garlic and a chopped onion.

Grind to paste. Add a few teaspoons of water while grinding, only if you must.

3. Make the curry

Slice an onion finely.

In another pan or skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil. Set heat to medium and add the sliced onions to the hot oil.

Sauté the onions, stirring periodically, till they are golden (around 7-8 minutes).

Add the ground spice paste to the pan.

Mix well, and continue to cook till the spice paste turns a deep brown.

Puree the tomatoes.

Add the pureed tomatoes to the cooking spices.

Mix well. Add turmeric powder.

Continue to cook till the onions and tomatoes have browned well and taken on a paste-like consistency.

Add two cups of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil.

Reduce and simmer for five minutes.

4. Put it all together

Pour the curry over the cooked eggplants.

Cook for another five minutes, turning the eggplant once in between.

Baingan masala is ready.

Serve hot.

Meal below: baingan masala with chapatis, homemade yogurt, carrot sticks.

Notes:

Also try eggplant in non-curried versions: baingan bhaja, bittersweet green eggplant, eggplant in mustard-fenugreek masala.

Looking for more ways to use bay leaf? Try out pumpkin masoor dal or this sweet rice preparation flavored with bay leaf.

The post Baingan Masala: Baby Eggplant Curry appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Pumpkin is so versatile that, even when pairing up within the legume family, it can take on entirely different avatars depending on which legume, what recipe. "Will you get together with the pliant yellow moong in a sambar-like curry?" Yes says the pumpkin, and becomes pumpkin moong dal. "Will you combine with the dense kidney bean in a Bengali-spiced curry?" Yes agan, says the pumpkin, and morphs into the dish I’m writing about today.

You Need:

• Pumpkin – 400 grams
• Red kidney beans – 1/2 cup (if using dried), 1 cup (if using canned)
• Tamarind – 1 lemon-sized ball
• Jaggery – 1 teaspoon
• Pepper powder – 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Red chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Dry red chilies – 3
• Garlic – 4 cloves (~1 teaspoon when crushed)
• Cinnamon – 1-inch stick
• Cloves – 4
• Cardamom – 4
• Panch phoron – 1 teaspoon
• Mustard oil – 1/2 tablespoon
• Coriander leaves – for garnishing

In the picture above (from top-right): cardamom, cinnamon, dry red chilies; pumpkin; garlic, tamarind.

How To Make Kaddu Rajma:

1. Boil the rajma

If using dried kidney beans, soak the kidney beans overnight in 3 cups of water. Drain. Place the kidney beans in a pressure cooker along with 2 cups of water. Cook on high heat till the pressure cooker whistles, then lower the heat and cook for another 15 minutes.

Let the pressure cooker release its steam naturally till the lid comes off.

2. Prepare the ingredients

Snip the dry red chilies into small pieces. Crush garlic coarsely.

Soak tamarind in half a cup of water for 30 minutes. Extract its pulp, discard seeds.

Cut pumpkin into 1-inch cubes.

3. Cook it all together

In a pan or kadhai, heat mustard oil. When the oil is hot, add these ingredients in quick succession: panch phoron, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, garlic, coriander seeds, dry red chilies.

When the dry red chilies turn dark, add pumpkin cubes to the pan. Mix.

Cook covered on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the dry spices to the cooking pumpkin: turmeric powder, red chili powder, pepper powder.

Mix well and continue to cook.

When the pumpkin is 3/4th done, add tamarind pulp, salt, jaggery, boiled kidney beans along with half a cup of the water it was cooked in. Adjust the quantity of water depending on how runny you want the gravy.

Mix well and bring to a boil. Lower heat, add chopped coriander leaves.

Cover and cook till all the ingredients have come together and the pumpkin is fully done.

Kaddu rajma (pumpkin and kidney bean curry) is ready.

Serve kaddu rajma warm with chapatis.

Meal today: kaddu rajma, aloo sahjan potato and drumstick curry, chapatis (the green specks in the chapatis are fenugreek leaves).

Notes:

For a no-garlic version of kaddu rajma, replace garlic in the recipe with a pinch of asafoetida.

For more legume-tamarind combos, try chaulai dal, khatti-meethi masoor dal, palak toor dal.

Check out pumpkin basale leaves curry, kaddu borani, potato pumpkin masala for more pumpkin recipes.

The post Kaddu Rajma: Pumpkin with Red Kidney Beans appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

The recipe broadly follows the ever-reliable Nisha Madhulika’s Kashmiri lauki curry recipe. The main departure is in the way the lauki is cooked (I did not want to deep-fry) and a little switch of ingredients.

You Need:

• Bottle gourd – 350 grams
• Green chilies – 2
• Plain yogurt – 1 cup
• Salt – to taste
• Fennel seeds – 3/4 teaspoon
• Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
• Cumin powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Red chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida powder – a pinch
• Coriander seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Cinnamon stick – 1 inch
• Cardamom – 3
• Cloves – 3
• Coriander leaves – 1 tablespoon, chopped
• Mustard oil – 1/2 tablespoon for cooking the spices + more for shallow-frying

In the picture above: bottle gourd, green chilies, plain homemade yogurt.

How To Make Dahi Wali Lauki:

1. Prepare the ingredients

Peel the bottle gourd, trim the ends. Cut into thin wedges about 2-inches long.

How to make bottle gourd wedges: Slice the bottle gourd into 2-inch tall cylinders. Halve each cylinder vertically, then slice each half as if along the spokes of a wheel.

Keep the yogurt unrefrigerated for 1-2 hours before you plan to make dahi wali lauki [cold yogurt tends to curdle when heated]. Beat the yogurt well with salt.

Keep all the dry spices ready: asafoetida powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder.

Grind fennel seeds to powder.

Slice the green chilies finely.

2. Shallow-fry the bottle gourd

Heat a wide non-stick pan with a thin coating of mustard oil. When hot, place the bottle gourd wedges in a single layer. [If the pan does not accommodate all the bottle gourd, cook in batches.]

Shallow-fry on high heat till the surface of the bottle gourd facing the heat has browned a bit.

Flip the wedges over and let the other side brown as well.

When cooked on both sides, remove the bottle gourd wedges from the pan and set aside.

2. Cook the spices

Heat half a tablespoon of mustard oil in a skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot, add cinammon stick, cloves and cardamom. Stir and then add cumin seeds and coriander seeds. As soon as the seeds splutter, set heat to low and transfer the dry spices (asafoetida powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder) to the oil.

Move the spices around, make sure there’s no charring.

3. Put it all together

Add chopped green chilies, fennel powder along with shallow-fried bottle gourd wedges to the kadhai.

Mix well to coat the bottle gourd wedges with the spices and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Set heat to low, add the beaten yogurt to the spiced bottle gourd. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water to thin out the curry. Keep stirring continuously so that the yogurt does not curdle.

When the curry comes to a gentle boil, take it off the heat. Dahi wali lauki is ready.

Stir in chopped coriander leaves.

Serve dahi wali lauki hot with chapatis or plain rice.

Meal in the pic below: dahi wali lauki with Kashmiri saag, chapatis and tomato wedges.

Notes:

Try other yogurt-based curries: quick dahi aloo, dahi arbi, dahi chhole.

The post Dahi Wali Lauki: Bottle Gourd Yogurt Curry appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

[ Jump to Recipe ↓ ]

This post tells you how to make Bihar’s pua. Pua is sometimes confused with malpua, but the two are not the same. Malpua is soaked in sugar syrup post-frying, while pua is not – it has sugar mixed into the batter itself. A good pua is thin, crisp when just-fried, and mildly sweet. Because puas are dry and can pass for snacks as well as desserts, they are a popular "take-back-from-home" food for those studying/working away from home.

Ask anyone who has lived in a hostel – dabbas of pua can get licked clean in no time by a horde of hostel-mates.

You Need:

• Refined wheat flour (maida / मैदा) – 1 cup
• Semolina (sooji / सूजी or rava / रवा) – 1/4 cup
• Water – for making the batter
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Banana (ripe) – 1
• Dry fruits (walnuts, cashew nuts, raisins) – 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
• Dry coconut – 1 teaspoon, finely chopped/grated
• Cardamoms – 10
• Oil – for deep frying

How To Make Pua:

1. Make the batter

Place maida (refined wheat flour), sooji (semolina) and sugar in a pan. Stir in water, a little at a time, till the batter reaches dropping consistency.

What’s this "dropping consistency"?
The batter has dropping consistency when it slides slowly off the spoon when lifted. To test, dip a spoon into the batter and turn it over. If the batter sticks to the overturned spoon, it is too thick (=> add more water). If the batter pours down, it is too thin (=> add more flour to fix).

To use examples for comparison, pua batter should be like cake batter or pakoda batter. If it is like chapati dough or like lassi, you have more work to do to fix it.

Set the pua batter aside for 5 hours.

Peel and crush the cardamoms. Add powdered cardamom and chopped dry fruits to the batter.

Just before you’re about to fry the puas, mash a ripe banana and add it to the batter.

2. Fry the puas

In a wok or kadhai, heat enough oil for deep frying (one pua at a time).

To test that the oil is hot enough for frying: Gently drop a tiny blob of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and browns immediately, the oil is hot enough. If it doesn’t, the oil needs to be heated more. If the batter blob turns black, the oil is too hot – switch off the heat for a few seconds and then test again.

Using a ladle, spoon out the batter and pour it gently into the hot oil.

As it fries, the batter will (on its own) flatten out into disk shape and the edges will start to crisp up.

At this stage, while the surface below browns, use a flat spatula to slowly move the oil from the sides of the kadhai towards the center above the pua. This helps the pua to cook evenly.

After a minute or so, when the pua has browned from the bottom, turn it over and fry on the second side.

After another minute, use the spatula to press the pua on the side of the kadhai to release its excess oil.

Take the fried pua out of the pan and place it on absorbent paper. Repeat for the next pua.

Continue till all the batter has been used and the puas are ready.

Tips and Tricks:

• When you drop the batter in oil, you might see it stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Don’t panic and don’t get into frenzied scraping. After a while, the pua will leave the bottom of the kadhai of its own volition.

• Pua tastes best when not more than 1/4 inch thick. If your puas are turning out thicker, mix some more water into the batter.

• The action of sweeping oil from the sides towards the center also has the effect of giving a slight curl and extra crunch to the edges, as you can see from the pics.

Serving and Storage Recommendations:

Puas stay good for 2-3 days at room temperature, and upto a week if refrigerated. They taste best warm, a few minutes after they have been fried, or reheated if they have been refrigerated.

Fun fact: puas aren’t necessarily eaten as dessert – they are often served as main meal accompaniment. Sample this meal plate from a day after Holi: pua with chapatis, beetroot raita, lasooni dal, aloo capsicum dry sabzi around it!

Quick-reference recipe card that you can save or print:

Print

Pua from Bihar: Thin, crisp Holi sweet

Classic Bihari sweet / snack pua (पुआ), traditionally made during Holi.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Bihari

Diet Vegetarian

Keyword festive recipe, Indian sweet

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting Time 5 hours hours

Total Time 5 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author The Steaming Pot

Ingredients

• 1 cup Refined wheat flour (maida) (मैदा in Hindi)
• 1/4 cup Semolina (sooji / rava) (सूजी / रवा in Hindi)
• ~1 cup Water (adjust as needed for making the batter)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Banana, ripe
• 2 tbsp Dry fruits & nuts, finely chopped (walnuts, cashew nuts, raisins)
• 1 tsp Dry coconut, finely chopped or grated
• 10 Cardamoms
• ~1 cup Oil (adjust as needed for deep frying)

Instructions

Make the batter

• Place maida (refined white flour), sooji (semolina) and sugar in a pan.
• Stir in water, a little at a time, till the batter reaches dropping consistency (See "Notes - A: Dropping consistency").
• Set the pua batter aside for 5 hours to rest.
• Peel and crush the cardamoms. Add powdered cardamom and chopped dry fruits to the batter.
• When you are just about to fry the puas, mash a ripe banana and add it to the batter.

Fry the puas

• In a wok or kadhai, heat enough oil for deep frying (one pua at a time). (See "Notes - B: When is the oil hot enough for frying?")
• Using a ladle, spoon out the batter and pour it gently into the hot oil. (See "Notes - C & D")
• As it fries, the batter will (on its own) flatten out into disk shape and the edges will start to crisp up.
• At this stage, while the surface below browns, use a flat spatula to slowly move the oil from the sides of the kadhai towards the center above the pua.
• After a minute or so, when the pua has browned from the bottom, turn it over and fry on the reverse.
• After another minute, use the spatula to press the pua on the side of the kadhai to release its excess oil.
• Take the fried pua out of the pan and place it on absorbent paper. Repeat for the next pua.
• Continue till all the batter has been used and the puas are ready.

Notes

1. Dropping consistency: The batter has "dropping consistency" when it slides slowly off the spoon when lifted. To test, dip a spoon into the batter and turn it over. If the batter sticks to the overturned spoon, it is too thick (=> add more water). If the batter pours down, it is too thin (=> add more flour).
2. When is the oil hot enough for fying?: To test that the oil is hot enough for frying: Gently drop a tiny blob of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and browns immediately, the oil is hot enough. If it doesn't, the oil needs to be heated more. If the batter blob turns black, the oil is too hot - switch off the heat for a few seconds and then test again.
3. When you drop the batter in oil, you might see it stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Don't worry about it - after a minute or so, the pua will leave the bottom of the kadhai on its own.
4. Pua tastes best when not more than 1/4 inch thick. If your puas are turning out thicker, mix some more water into the batter.

Related Recipes:

Browse through our Bihari recipe collection and learn how to make other delicacies from Bihar such as littis and parval chokha.

Or if you want to explore more dessert recipes, try out aate ka halwa, sabudana kheer, mango phirni.

The post Pua from Bihar: Thin, Crisp Holi Sweet appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Traditional rabri can be pretty heavy with its high content of sugar and condensed milk. Its usual pairing with malpua and jalebi (while delicious!) doesn’t help either if you’re watching your weight. Enter my recipe of fresh fruit rabri – a dessert that satiates your sweet tooth even while keeping things light and healthy. No refined sugar, no tinned condensed milk – this rabri is sweetened only with natural nutrient-rich dates and apricots. No canned fruit either – only fresh seasonal produce.

This recipe is a broad template, not a dictum – experimentation is encouraged! Notch up the amount of rabri or down, as you please. Use any fresh seasonal fruit in any proportion you like. Keep in mind to:

• Avoid very watery fruits like watermelon
• Avoid very sour fruits like sweet lime or China orange

Fruits like papaya, pomegranate, apple, strawberry, mango, banana, pineapple, grapes work very well. Try other combinations and see what rocks your boat.

Here’s my spread of fruits for fresh fruit rabri, ready to be peeled and chopped:

Clockwise from the top: orange, mango, apple, banana, musk melon

Ingredients:

[for 4 servings]

• Orange – 1
• Mango – 1
• Apple – 1
• Banana – 1
• Musk melon – 200 grams

For the rabri:

• Milk – 1/2 liter
• Dates – 4 (more if you want the rabri sweeter)
• Apricots – 4
• Cinanamon stick – 1
• Cardamom – 2 pods

For garnishing:

• Roasted almond slivers/walnut kernels
• Dry strawberries/apricots (optional)

How To Make Fresh Fruit Rabri:

1. Prepare the rabri

Crush cinnamon and cardamom. Add them to half a liter of milk.

Chop dates and apricots, keep aside for later use.

Clockwise from the top: cinnamon, cardamom, dates, apricots

Place the flavored milk in a wide thick-bottomed pan. Bring the milk to a boil, then simmer. Every 3-4 minutes, use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan and give the simmering milk a swirl.

Continue till the milk has reduced to half its original quantity. At this stage, chop dates and add them to the simmering pan. For 5 minutes, let the dates cook and sweeten the thickened milk. Take the pan off the heat if you prefer a rabri with pouring consistency (I do that). If you want dense rabri, continue to simmer till the rabri has thickened to your liking.

Chop apricots and add them to the rabri. Let the rabri cool to room temperature. Put the rabri in the coldest part of the refrigerator and let it chill before use.

2. Chop the fruits

Peel and cut each orange segment into 2-3 pieces. Remove the seeds carefully from the sides, without squishing the oranges.

Peel and cut mango and melon into small cubes.

Cut the apple into similar-sized cubes, and dip the cubes immediately into water to prevent apples from discoloring.

Just before serving, slice the banana into four lengthwise and then into slices. [Cut banana tends to discolor and the dip-in-water trick doesn’t work as well with this fruit as it does with apple. So, keep the banana-slicing for the end.]

3. Assemble the final dish

Take the chilled rabri out of the refrigerator. Keep the garnishing handy (almond slivers, walnut kernels, dried apricots or berries).

Layer fresh fruit rabri parfait style.

In individual glasses, place cut fruits to 1/3rd the depth. Pour in a tablespoon of rabri per glass and sprinkle some garnishing. Make another layer of cut fruits to 2/3rd the depth, top with another tablespoon of rabri and a sprinkling of garnishing. Finish off to fill each glass with rabri, fruits and garnishing.

Serve fresh fruit rabri cold as dessert or snack.

Notes:

Add apricots to rabri only after it’s cooked – the slight sourness of apricots might curdle the milk if added earlier.

Looking for more ways to include fruits in your diet? Try mango raita, pineapple sweet corn rice or apple cucumber mint juice.

The post Fresh Fruit Rabri (No Refined Sugar) appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Here’s my curry leaf pulao recipe – for those who share taste buds similar to mine! How many of you?

You Need:

• Basmati rice – 1 cup
• Curry leaves (fresh) – 2 packed cups when plucked
• Cashew nuts – 1 cup
• Milk – 0.5 cup
• Onions – 2
• Cloves – 3 (buy here)
• Cardamom – 2 pods (buy here)
• Black peppercorns – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Jaggery – 1 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Ghee – 1.5 tablespoons

How To Make Curry Leaf Pulao:

1. Before cooking

Wash rice in several changes of water till the water runs clear. Soak in water for 30 mins. Drain.

Slice onions lengthwise into thin strips. Crush peppercorns, cloves and cardamom together using a mortar and pestle.

Grind curry leaves to paste.

2. On the fire

In a non-stick pan, heat a tablespoon of ghee. Add cashew nuts, stir around till they begin to turn golden. Then add sliced onions. Fry on medium heat, stirring regularly, till the onions turn brown. This could take about 10 mins.

When done, take the fried onions and cashew nuts out of the pan and keep aside. Pour a little more ghee to the same pan. Set heat to low, add cumin seeds and when they splutter, follow with crushed peppercorns, cardamoms, cloves.

In a few seconds the ghee will become fragrant with the freshly crushed garam masala. At this stage, add soaked and drained rice and fry on medium heat for 3 minutes. Follow with freshly ground curry leaf paste. Mix it in and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring once very minute.

Add a teaspoon of jaggery and salt to taste. Top with 1.5 cups of water, half a cup of milk, and bring to a boil. Add half of the fried onions and cashew nuts back into the pulao being cooked.

Set heat to low, close the lid of the pan and let the curry leaf pulao simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, or till the rice grains are cooked.

Use a non-stick pan with a close-fitting lid for cooking curry leaf pulao.

After the rice grains are cooked and have absorbed the excess water, close the lid of the pan tightly and switch off the heat. Let the curry leaf pulao stand and soak in its own flavors, for the next 5-10 minutes.

Stir gently to separately out the grains of basmati rice, and mix in the fried onions and cashew nuts that had been separately out earlier. Serve curry leaf pulao with raita on the side.

Notes:

The quantity of water and time required for cooking can vary by the type of rice, the vessel being used, and source of heat, etc. Keep a watch on the pan and adapt the guidelines accordingly.

If, after cooking for a few minutes, you see the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan, this means the water wasn’t enough. To remedy the situation: Slide in a tablespoon or more of water as needed, from the side of the pan, and gently turn the pan around.

The post Curry Leaf Pulao appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake, I realised I am not much changed today. Ashima makes "thick channa dal with swollen brown raisins" for her party. What can that be like?  Now I don’t just imagine, I cook my interpretation of it :)

After a few trials and errors, I’ve settled on this recipe of chana dal with raisins. Hope you enjoy my take on it. 

You Need:

• Chana dal* (Bengal gram) – 1 cup [buy here]
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Salt – 1/2 teaspoon (adjust to taste)
• Jaggery – 1/2 teaspoon (adjust to taste) [buy here]
• Raisins – 1/3 cup [buy here]
• Green chili – 1
• Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
• Dry red chili – 1
• Cardamom – 2 pods
• Cinnamon – 1-inch stick
• Cloves – 2
• Nigella seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Ghee – 1 teaspoon
• Mustard oil – 2 teaspoons
• Coriander leaves – for garnishing

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 Chana Dal with Raisins:

Soak chana dal in 3 cups of water, for five hours or more.

Drain, wash and cook the dal in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water and turmeric powder. Cook till one whistle on high flame, then another whistle on low flame. Let the pressure release naturally. [If boiling chana dal without a pressure cooker, use a deep open pan with a lot more water, and cook the dal till al dente.]

In the picture above: Boiled chana dal, cumin powder, nigella seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamon and cloves, raisins, dry red chili, green chili.

When done, the chana dal pieces should be soft but retain their shape. Drain most of the water from the dal [don’t throw it away, use it for making rasam or kneading chapati dough]. Add raisins to the pot of boiled dal while you prepare for the next step – adding raisins to the hot dal makes them absorb the liquid, homogenize in taste and swell up.

Chop green chili finely. Pound dry red chili into small pieces.

Heat two teaspoons of mustard oil in a kadhai/wok till smoking point. Set the heat to low and add nigella seeds, cloves, whole cardamom pods, dry red chili pieces. As soon as the red chili pieces turn color (within 10 seconds), add chopped green chilies.

Follow immediately with cumin powder, boiled chana dal and raisins. Add salt and jaggery to taste. Stir gently to coat chana dal with all the spices. Cook covered on low flame for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Before serving, add some ghee to the dal and sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Chana dal with raisins goes well with pooris and aloo curry.

Meal below: brown rice, chana dal with raisins, karela masala fry, homemade dahi with bhuna jeera, fresh tomatoes and green chili.

Notes:

Tadka variations: include a bay leaf along with the cloves and cardamom; replace nigella seeds with panch phoron.

*Many recipes online describe chana dal as split pigeon peas. They look alike but they are NOT the same! Split pigeon peas is toor dal. Chana dal is Bengal gram, closer in taste to chickpeas (garbanzo beans).

The post Chana Dal with Raisins appeared first on The Steaming Pot.