Indian Cooking Recipe: Chana Daal
The following are the instructions on how to cook delicious Indian food: Chana Daal
Ingredients:
1. Chana Daal 2 mugs
2. turmeric 1/2 teaspoon
3. Jeera (Cumin) powder 1+1/2 teaspoon
4. Salt 1+1/2 teaspoon to taste
5. Sugar 2 teaspoon to taste
6. Green Chilli 2 - 3
7. Coconut (Optional) 1
8. Indian Bay leaves 3 or 4
9. Whole Jeera (Cumin) 1 teaspoon
10. Ginger 1 inch peeled and chopped
11. Moori (aniseed seeds) 1/2 teaspoon
12. Kalwanji (onion seeds) 1 teaspoon
13. Dried red chilli 1 - 2
14. Whole Cardamom 8 - 10
15. Cinnamon sticks 6 - 8
Method of Preparation:
Wash and drain the daal using hot water. Add plenty of cold water and leave to soak for one to two hours. And Drain.
Cooking the Daal
Put the soaked daal in a large saucepan and half fill it with cold water. Bring to the boil and boil for 3/4 hour (if it starts drying out whilst boiling you can add more hot water). Add salt and mix. Add the Turmeric and Cumin powder and a little sugar to taste. Take two or three small fresh green challis and open them to expose the seeds by slicing them down their length; add these to the daal. Fresh coconut flesh is sometimes now added - try it if you can get a whole nut. Halve the coconut and carefully remove the white pulp. Cut it into small squares and fry it separately until it is just going brown. It can now be added to the daal.
Frying the spices
In a second saucepan you now prepare the remaining spices for the shombar.
Heat a little oil to a high heat but not quite smoking. Add the red chilies and Indian bay leaves and lightly fry. Then add the whole jeera, mouri, kalwanji and chopped ginger. The seeds should fry instantly. Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately pour the liquid daal into the hot oil. Be careful as the combination is explosive! I usually do this over the sink. The better the "shombar" the better the taste of the daal.
Finishing off
Put the saucepan which now contains everything back on the stove and gently heat. You now add the whole Cardamom and Cinnamon sticks. These can be added whole to the daal, but if you are able to crush them into a powder first with a little mortar and pestle this gives even more flavor. You can also add a little butter at this point. Boil the whole mixture together for a further 10 minutes and check if you need to add more salt or sugar. You are now ready to serve the daal, though it will still taste wonderful if it is re-heated the next day.
