When mummy first told me this urad chane ki daal recipe on phone, I wasn’t too sure how it would turn out. The recipe had no tomatoes and for me no daal is complete without it. But since it was her telling me this recipe, I was all for trying it. Daal is a regular feature in our lunch and dinner menu and the variety of them available ensures that we never get bored of it. While my favorite is toor daal, I keep mixing different types so that we never repeat one too soon.
Pulses are an important source of protein especially for vegetarians and vegans. I think that is the reason why daal has traditionally been part of every meal in India.
Urad Chane ki Daal
Preparation Time: 5 mins + soaking time| Cooking Time: 30 mins| Serves 4
1 cup split black gram with skin (chilkewali urad daal)
½ cup Bengal gram (chana daal)
½ inch ginger, grated
1 onion, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
A pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp chaat masala
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish
- Wash and soak both the daals together in 3 cups of warm water for 6 hours or overnight
- Heat ½ tbsp. oil in a pressure cooker, add asafoetida and cumin seeds.
- When the seeds crackle, add the daals with the water it was soaked in and half of ginger.
- Pressure cook for 4 whistles and leave on low flame for 20 minutes. We want the daals to become very soft. Remove from heat after 20 minutes and open the cooker only after all the steam has escaped on its own.
- In a deep non-stick pan, heat the remaining oil.
- Add chopped chillies, ginger and garlic. Sauté for a minute.
- Add chopped onions, mix well and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Add all the spices (except chaat masala), mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add the boiled daals to the onion mixture. Mix well and cook covered for 5 minutes.
- Add lemon juice and chaat masala. Mix well and empty in a serving bowl.
- Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with rotis.
I have everything except the pressure cooker and the chaat masala. Any recommendations on cooking times using a soup pot on the stove top? Can another type of masala be substituted?
Hello Rebecca,
You can use dry mango powder (amchoor) instead of chaat masala. Or you can skip it altogether. It’s not one of the essential ingredients to the recipe, but does add to the taste.
Both urad and chana take a longer time to cook, therefore a pressure cooker is easiest. In a pressure cooker I do 4-5 whistles which takes around 20 mins; I have never done daals in a soup pot; but it should take around 40-45 minutes. Do keep checking and stirring in between. Also put a heavy weight on the pan’s lid to speed up the cooking; but letting the steam out in between is important. Also soak the daals in hot water overnight so they are already a much softer.
Hope that helps. Do let me know how it turned out 🙂
Cheers,
Ashima