Pakistani Cooking: chana ki daal

Chana ki daal, or chennay ki daal, or cheneke dal (all the same thing) is a chickpea daal and can be made, like most Pakistani dishes, in a myriad of different ways. The way I made it today is the fast and simple tasty way. Fast is good when you’re in a hurry (Obvious) simple is good when you’re not quite in ‘the mood’ and tasty is always good. So, all round good.

Side note: Chanal daal is made by taking off the outer layer of black chickpeas (the black part) then splitting the kernel in half. Cool.

Another side note: As always, this makes quite a lot of daal, to feed my large (in numbers) extended family. Halve or quarter the recipe if you like. Or not.

Ingredients:

2 cups chana daal, washed

5 cups water

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp oil

5 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

3 tsp cumin seeds

2 onions, pureed

8 tomatoes, pureed

3/4 tsp turmeric

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp chili powder

3/4 tsp garam masala powder

Green chili (optional)

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

Method:

Place washed daal into a pressure cooker with 4 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes once pressure gauge is doing its thing…each pressure cooker is different, so play it cautious the first time round! The daal pieces should still be whole, and just squash between your fingers without too much resistance.

Heat oil in a pot. Mash garlic, ginger and cumin seeds in mortar and pestle. Add to oil and fry for 30 seconds.

Add pureed onions and tomatoes and stir. Add turmeric, coriander, chili powder and the rest of the salt. Cook, stirring regularly for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes and the onions have reduced quite a bit, and the oil separates from the mixture. The pot will look quite splattered, but it adds to the character of the dish.

Add 1 cup of water and green chili if using, cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the cooked daal, the garam masala and cook for about 5 minutes more, then add the coriander leaves at the end. If you have it (today I didn’t) squeeze about half a lemon (whole if using tiny Pakistani lemons) over mixture before serving. Eat with fresh naan for best results.