Chollar Daal.

When I saw that the RCI for this month was Bengal I wanted to participate as I had never cooked anything Bengali.The only Bangla dish I always had were their mouth watering sweets.The 2 things I know Bengal is famous for is their sweets and fish dishes.Since this was the first time I was experimenting with the ciusine I wanted to start with something simple.So I thought of making chollar daal.I love Bengali language.Every word has a nice  lilt to it.I think its the sweetest language in India.Even something as simple as chana daal sounds so exotic when pronounced as chollar daal.This was a hit in my first attempt itself.This is so simple and delicious I am going to make it often.

Ingredients:

2 cups chana daal soaked in water for a couple of hours
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ghee
2 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 bay leaf
1 whole red chilli
1 tsp cumin seeds
 2 tbsp dhania-jeera powder
1 inch ginger grated
1 tsp red chilli powder
2/3 tsp  turmeric powder
1/2 cup small pieces of coconut
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Method:

Boil the chana dal in water with salt and ginger till it is well cooked.Take care that the grains are tender but not disintegrated.

Dry roast the coconut pieces and keep aside

Take a small bowl.Add in turmeric powder,red chilly powder and dhaniya-jeera powder.Make a thin paste by adding water and keep aside.

Take a vessel.Heat the oil and ghee to it.

Put in cumin seeds and fennel seeds.Then add the cloves,bay leaf and cardamoms alongwith the whole red chilli. 

Stir for a couple of minutes.Then add the turmeric,chilli and dhaniya-jeera paste to the vessel.Fry this till the oil starts leaving the sides.

Then add the boiled daal and some water(depends upon the consistency needed) to the vessel.

Add the sugar and check for salt.Bring to a boil.Garnish with the roasted coconut pieces.

Serve hot with rice.

PS: I am sending this to Sandeepa for the “RCI-Bengal” event.