Ingredients
|
Quantity
|
Channa dal
|
2 cups
|
Turmeric
|
½ tsp
|
Cumin powder
|
1 ½ tsp
|
Salt
|
1 ½ tsp or to taste
|
Sugar
|
2 tsp or to taste
|
Green chilli
|
2
|
Coconut - optional
|
1
|
Bayleaves
|
3 to 4
|
Whole cumin
|
1 tsp
|
Ginger – peeled and chopped
|
1”
|
Aniseed seeds
|
½ tsp
|
Onion seeds
|
1 tsp
|
Dried red chilli
|
1 to 2
|
Whole cardamom
|
8 to 10
|
Cinnamon stick
|
6 to 8
|
Daal is central part of almost any Bengali meal, whether it is
served simply with rice and a chilli omlette, or as part of a true feast. All
daals are based round boiled lentils, of which Chana is just one variety. Like
our Pilau rice it bears little resemblence to the dish you find in most Indian
restaurants and a glance at the ingredients below should tell you that it
tastes delicious. Of all the spices you need the one most typical to Bengal is
the Kalwanji or onion seeds. If you think you will struggle to get these
spices, try the Ingredients section on our main page. As part of this recipe
you will discover the joys of Shombar - not to be missed!
Preparation:
Wash and drain the daal using hot water. Add plenty of cold water
and leave to soak for one to two hours. 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.
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 chillies and Indian bay leaves and lightly fry. Then add the whole cumin, aniseed
seeds, onion seeds 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:
Having had the fun off the shombar you are nearly there. 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 flavour. 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.
