Cholar Dal - A Bengali recipe

Here goes another Bengali dish. That tastes perfect with Matter Kachori ( aka Green peas poori). Though this is more a simpler and lighter version of original Bengali Cholar Dal.

Ingredients:

           Serving :Three adults and a kid :)

           Channa Dal - 1 to 1.5 Cups

           Red Chillies - 3 long

           Spices - Cumin seeds ( 1 spoon) , Bay leaf - 1 , Cloves - few, cinnamon - few, Saunf - a pinch

           Sugar - 2 spoonful

           Salt to taste

           Refined or Til oil - 1 or 2 spoon

                       
 Way to go:

• Soak Chana dhal in water for an hour. Or just pressure cook chana with 3 to 4 cups of water and a spoon of turmeric powder for three whistles. Allow pressure to cease.
• Heat oil in a kadai, and when hot crackle cumin seeds. Add cloves, bay leafs, cinnonmon, saunf and cardomom, and fry for  5 seconds. And then in low flame, add red chillies and fry.
• Now add the Channa dhal with cooked water from the pressure cooker into the kadai. 
• Add two to three spoons of Sugar
• Add salt right to your taste.
• Cook in medium heat until it reduces to right consistency. It should neither be too water nor too thick, but pouring consistency and dhal and spices should have mixed well. I infact did the whole thing in pressure cooker instead of kadai and then pressure cooked it for two whistles.
• Once done, turn off the heat and your Cholar Dal is ready for serving with the Bengal mattar Kachori.
• Optional: People also fry grinded coconut with other spices while making the dal, and add dry fruits while making the tadka for dal. But I did without these and it did taste well with Kachori.This step would bring the original taste of Bengali Cholar Dal. But I chose to skip this part when I tried.