Daal Baati ( Hard Wheat Flour Bread With Spiced Five Lentils Daal)

There are some dishes which you enjoy eating but do not dare to make, one of such dish for me was baati. I have eaten it few times...in a tiny village in Rajasthan, at my neighbours house and most recently in a authentic Rajasthani restaurant in Dubai. Thanks to Arva ( the talented blogger behind I live in a frying pan  ) who introduced this restaurant in one of her unique foodie tour. I really liked their daal and kept on boasting about it to my hubby. And from that day onwards, on every weekend he used to propose to go there for dinner, but somehow the visit kept on getting delayed. But finally last weekend we went there and enjoyed the daal, baati and the heavenly choorma.. Choorma was mildly sweet with heavy fragrance of ghee. 

Our tummy's sagged by the weight of baati but our desire remained, so I decided to finally try my hands in making these. Today I will share about daal and baati..the choorma recipe will be shared sometime in the near future :)

Ingredients: (For Baati)- (Makes 12-13 Baatis)

Whole Wheat Flour- 3 Cups
Semolina- 3/4 Cups
Clarified Butter Melted ( Ghee)- 1/2 Cup
Carom Seeds (Ajwain)- 1 generous Tsp
Salt -As per taste

More ghee to dunk in the baatis.

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven at 220 Degrees C.
• Mix all the above ingredients in a big bowl and using warm water knead into a firm dough.
• Pinch small balls out of the dough and roll them into smooth balls then make an indentation in the centre using thumb ( mine were like holes as my kiddo wanted to make them like doughnuts )
• Dunk the baatis in ghee and place them on a baking sheet.
• Bake them in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or till they turn brownish in colour. 
• Now broil them for 3-4 minutes to get even nice dark brown colour.
• Take the baatis out of the oven. Again dunk them in ghee before serving.

Ingredients: ( For Panchmel Daal- Daal made with five lentils)

Toor Daal (Pigeon Peas)- 1/4 Cup
Yellow Moong Daal ( Split Green Gram)- 1/4 Cup
Urad Daal (Split Black Gram)- 1/4 Cup
Chana Daal (Split Bengal Gram)- 1/4 Cup
Masoor Daal (Split Red Lentil)- 1/4 Cup
Ghee- 2 Tbsp
Mustard- 1Tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 Tsp
Tomatoes- 2
Green Chillies- 2 or 3
Ginger- 2 Inch Piece
Asafoetida- A Pich
Turmeric Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Red Chilli Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Coriander Powder- 1 Tsp
Salt- To Taste
Coriander Leaves- To Garnish

Procedure:

• Soak all the lentils in water for about 2 hours.
• Pressure cook them with turmeric powder and little salt for 3-4 whistles.
• Grind tomatoes, green chillies and ginger together and keep aside.
• Heat ghee in a deep pan or kadhai, once ghee turns hot add in asafoetida and mustard . Once mustard splutters add in cumin.
• After cumin crackle add in the tomato paste. Stir to mix.
• Now add in salt, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep on stirring and cooking this mixture, till the raw smell of spices goes away. 
• Now add in the cooked daals and required water and cook in medium flame till the daal starts boiling. Once boil comes simmer the gas and keep on cooking for another 5-7 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

To eat daal and baati, take a baati and break it in 4-5 pieces. Dunk them in a bowl of daal, if required a tsp of ghee can be added. Enjoy the daal baati hot accompanied with the choorma.

Aata Halwa / Wheat Flour And Almonds Pudding

Last two weeks when my kiddo was at home each day seemed to be very short, our mornings started late and the day was spent  playing with her, evening also disappeared fast while she enjoyed cycling and I chatted with some friends. But now when her school has resumed and she is away from me for almost 8 hours , it seems like eternity waiting for her. I really miss her so much, the time seems to have stopped, though now I have plenty of time for myself, I really miss being troubled by her all day.

My baby has transformed into this small girl who no longer misses her mom, but enjoys her school and likes to spend time with her new friends. She has joined new school and I had been worried as how she will adjust in new atmosphere, find the way to her classroom in the huge campus and board the right bus, you know how capable we mothers are to burden ourselves with unwanted thoughts. But to my surprise after coming back from school she proudly told me how easily she herself went to class and even explored a little bit of her new campus. It's really surprising as to how independent she has become.

And to celebrate this I made her favourite Aata halwa. She got really happy and I was really very proud of her.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour (Aata) - 1 Cup
Almonds- 3 Tbsp ( Roughly Chopped)
Clarified Butter (Ghee)- 1/2 Cup
Sugar- 1 Cup
Water- 2 Cups
Cardamom Powder- 1/4 Tsp

Procedure:

• Combine water and sugar together in a pan. Boil and keep aside.
• In a heavy bottom skillet add in ghee, once ghee heats up add in whole wheat flour.
• Roast the flour on a low flame by stirring continuously till the flour turns almost brown, this will take around 20 minutes. Take care to stir continuously else the flour may burn.
• Now add in almonds and mix nicely.
• Pour the water and sugar mixture in the flour mix and stir vigorously, so that no lumps are formed. 
• Add in cardamom powder and mix.
• Now at this stage the halwa will come together like a ball.
• Switch off the gas.

Enjoy the halwa / pudding warm.