I often make Dry chana dal at my home and this is the only lentils having a sweet and nutty taste that makes our meal wonderful. Dry Chana Dal is also known as Bengal Gram, and it comes out from black chickpeas (kala chana). they are split and the outer cover is removed. These lentils are also powdered to make besan or gram flour.
I like to make variety of Dal Recipes in my daily meal, they are easy to make and really accomplish the appetite, some of my favorite Dal Dishes are Simple Dal Tadka, Dhaba Style Dal Tadka, Black Dal and Trevti Dal.
Dry Chana Dal Recipe is a comfort Indian Dal Recipe made with Chana Dal, Tomatoes and Spices. Some times I serve it with hot Chapatis and Fried Aloo and sometimes with Steamed Rice, Salad and Pickle. My whole family enjoy this meal.
The flavors & taste of this chana dal recipe is North Indian and the preparation is like the way we make in Punjabi households, for faster cooking of the chana dal, it is best to soak it in water for sometime. You can cook it either in a pressure cooker or in a pan, but make sure that chana dal should be cooked soft, so that it is easy to digest.
Chana Dal makes the people sleepy, drowsy and dizziness, because it contains a chemical called Tyriptophin, the same one as in game birds and American turkeys, hence it should be consumed in a proportion and balanced. Also try to avoid making it in dinner time, because after having this Chana Dal, there should be at least the gap of 4 hours between eating and sleeping.
Let’s start making our Dry Chana Dal Recipe with some simple ingredients. For complete list of ingredients and step by step instructions, please refer to recipe snippet below.
Dry Chana Dal Recipe – Step by Step
Soak Chana Dal in water for about 20 minutes.
In a pressure cooker add soaked chana dal along with 2 cups of water, chopped tomatoes, slitted green chilies, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt to taste. Pressure cook the dal for about 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a saucepan and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and few curry leaves. Add chopped ginger, chopped garlic and asafoetida. Cook this tempering on low flame for 2-3 minutes with continuous stirring.
Pour the prepared tempering over cooked dal and mix it well. Finally keep dal on high heat for one more minute and garnish with some fresh finely chopped coriander leaves.
Dry Chana Dal is ready to serve with Rice, Roti, Salad and Pickle.
How to make Dry Chana Dal Recipe:
Dry Chana Dal Recipe is the famous Punjabi Style Dal Dish made with Chana Dal, Tomatoes and Spices and then tempered with Ginger, Garlic and Cumin Seeds.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Chana Dal / Bengal Gram
- 2 Green Chillies, Slitted or Chopped
- 2 Tomatoes, Chopped
- 1 tsp Ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- Few Curry Leaves
- 1/2 tsp Red chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp Coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp Asafoetida (hing)
- Few Coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 2 cups water
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Pick and rinse the chana dal well in water and soak it for about 20 minutes.
- Heat a pressure cooker and add soaked chana dal along with 2 cups of water, 2 chopped tomatoes, 2 slitted green chilies, 1/2 tsp red chili powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder and salt to taste.
- Pressure cook dal for about 10 minutes, till it turns soft but not mushy. Make sure to keep dal thick and with some whole grains separate.
- Uncover dal and mix it well with spatula. If dal looks to watery then thicken it by cooking on low flame for 5 minutes, else if the consistency is proper, then no need to cook it again and just leave it as it is.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan and add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds and few curry leaves. When the seeds starts spluttering, then add 1 tsp chopped ginger, 1 tsp chopped garlic and 1/4 tsp of asafoetida. Cook this tempering on low flame for 2-3 minutes with continuous stirring.
- Pour over cooked dal and mix it well. Finally keep dal on high heat for one more minute and garnish with some fresh finely chopped coriander leaves.
- Your Dry Chana Dal is ready to serve with Rice, Roti, Salad and Pickle.
Notes
To make this dal gluten free, omit adding the asafoetida/hing. The consistency of dal can be easily adjusted, if it looks thick, then after adding the tempering, add some water and simmer for some minutes and if it becomes thin, then simmer for a longer time so that you get the right consistency.
