Memories on My Plate #1: Chana Dal
Memories on My Plate #1: Chana Dal

Hey everyone, I hope you are having an incredible day today. Today, I’m gonna show you how to make a special dish, memories on my plate #1: chana dal. It is one of my favorites food recipes. For mine, I’m gonna make it a little bit tasty. This will be really delicious.

Memories on My Plate #1: Chana Dal is one of the most favored of current trending foods in the world. It is enjoyed by millions every day. It’s simple, it’s fast, it tastes delicious. Memories on My Plate #1: Chana Dal is something that I have loved my entire life. They are fine and they look fantastic.

To begin with this particular recipe, we have to prepare a few ingredients. You can cook memories on my plate #1: chana dal using 8 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you cook that.

The ingredients needed to make Memories on My Plate #1: Chana Dal:
  1. Get 8 ounces dry chana dal
  2. Make ready 1-1.5 inch piece of ginger, grated or evenly chopped
  3. Take 1 green chili, chopped
  4. Prepare 1 small onion, finely chopped
  5. Prepare 3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
  6. Get 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
  7. Make ready 3/4 tsp salt
  8. Make ready Water for soaking and cooking
Instructions to make Memories on My Plate #1: Chana Dal:
  1. Mom measures her dal by handfuls! I found out that four 'momfuls' (!) is about 8 ounces, and that's how much we used. Put the dal in a bowl, cover with plenty of water and soak for at least two hours and up to overnight. The dal will expand to around twice its size. When ready to use, drain the dal – there’s no need to wash it. Here you can see the dal soaking, and the onion and spices ready to go. The second picture shows how the soaked drained dal has expanded.
  2. When ready to cook, put the drained dal into a large pan, and add enough water to cover it by a depth of two mom-fingers (again, the measure she prefers!). We measured this to mean one UK pint of water, which is actually 1.25 US pints, or 2.5 cups. - Bring to the boil. - When it’s boiling if a foam forms on the surface, scoop it off and discard. - Then reduce the heat to a gentle boil, partly cover the pan and leave to cook. - While the dal is cooking prepare the masala.
  3. In another pan, put the vegetable oil, and heat on low-medium. - When hot, add the cumin seeds and fry for a few seconds still they start to release their aroma and start to pop, but before they darken noticeably. Add the chili and ginger, fry for a few seconds but before they start to color add the chopped onion. Soften the onion but watch the cumin seeds also – don’t let them blacken. - Add half a can of chopped tomatoes, and once back to a boil add the turmeric. Mix, cover, and leave to cook.
  4. When the tomato/onion mixture is well combined, after a few minutes, the mixture should not look dry but there should be no obvious water left in the dish. Tilting the pan reveals the oil has taken on an orange tint. At this point the masala is done, so turn off the heat, leave and cover, until ready to add to the dal.
  5. After about 30 minutes of cooking the dal, most of the water should have evaporated or been absorbed, and the dal should be almost cooked. Test it by squeezing a grain between two fingers. It should not disintegrate in your fingers but under pressure it should split. You should feel some resistance before it splits.
  6. At this point, add the tomato masala. - Add another ¼ liter of water, and add ¾ tsp salt. - Mix, bring back to the boil and leave on a robust simmer, half-covered.
  7. Check after 15 minutes for your desired consistency. If eating with rice or leaving to reheat the next day, it’s ok to retain some liquid. But if eating with chapati of naan, you don’t want it too wet, so continue to boil till more of the liquid reduces. Note: once you turn off the heat and leave the dal to stand for a few minutes, it will start re-absorbing water, so make sure not to cook it too dry in the first place.

So that is going to wrap it up with this special food memories on my plate #1: chana dal recipe. Thank you very much for your time. I am sure that you will make this at home. There’s gonna be interesting food in home recipes coming up. Don’t forget to bookmark this page in your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!