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.

Daal Banjari

I am completing first week of my Vegan challenge and till now have been successful in sticking to the vegan diet. I have replaced my milk tea to soy milk masala tea and now loving it. The breakfast is mostly semolina upma or oats with a dash of soy milk and some fruits or brown rice poha and even Vegan french toasts.

Lunch comprises of lentils with roti or any tofu dish with rotis/ parathas and dinner is mostly dosas/ idlis/ roti subzi. I made these lentils for our lunch and it was super good. This daal belongs from Indian State of Rajasthan. The recipe is adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's tasty eating for healthy living book, earlier I have tried this Daal Lucknowi from that book.

Ingredients:

Whole Black Gram with Skin( Urad daal)- 2/3 Cup (soaked)

Split Bengal Gram- 1/3 Cup (soaked)

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Onions- 2 Small chopped

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon Stick- 1 Inch

Dry Red Chillies- 2

Ginger- 1 Inch Piece (crushed in mortar)

Garlic- 2 cloves (crushed in mortar)

Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Green Chilly- 1

Black Pepper Powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander Leaves- to garnish

Oil- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

• Pressure cook both grams together with turmeric powder, salt and 3 cups of water till 4-5 whistles.
• Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cinnamon, onions, crushed ginger and garlic with dried red chillies and green chilly and sautè till onions turn golden brown.
• Add the cooked grams, black pepper powder and coriander powder. Boil for 5-10 minutes. Check seasoning.
• Transfer to a bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Badi / Vadi Ki Subzi

Sometimes when I am short of dinner ideas I like to make this badi subzi, this subzi is quick to make and tastes very delicious. Badi is made using daals like moong, urad, chawli. The daal are soaked overnight and ground using heeng, salt and chillies, then small marbled sized amount of batter is dropped and dried in the sun. The dried badis can be stored in an air tight container and used as and when required. To know more about how badis can be made please check here.

I have used store bought chawli badis. I prepare all the different kinds of badi subzis the same way.

Ingredients:

Dried badis- 100 gms
Potato- 1 ( Cut in big chunks)
Onion- 1 Large ( Chopped Finely)
Ginger- 1 Inch Piece( Chopped)
Garlic- 2 Cloves( Minced)
Tomatoes- 2 Big (Ground)
Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt, Red Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder, Amchoor- To Taste
Oil- 2 tbsp + more to fry the badis
Coriander Leaves- To garnish

Procedure:

• Heat the oil in a kadhai and fry the badis till they turn brown in colour. Take out and keep separate.
• In a small pressure cooker pour the 2 tbsp of oil and add mustard and cumin. When they start spluttering add in the ginger, garlic and chopped onions.
• Fry till the onions turns translucent. Add in tomato paste along with all the spices and fry till the raw aroma disappears. 
• Add in the potatoes, fried badis and stir. Pour in around 2-3 cups of water and mix everything. Close the lid of the cooker and cook in medium flame till 3-4 whistles come up.
• Switch off the gas and when the pressure of the cooker drops down open the lid and garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot with phulkas.

Update: Vadis are also known as mangodis in Rajasthan and is a speciality dish there. Thanks to Sonu for pointing this out. I am sending this to her event Flavours of Rajasthan originally started by Nayna.

Daal Lucknowi

Daal Chawal is the most comforting food for me. And since daal has got proteins it is good for kids too. And sometimes when I am too lazy to cook a great meal, daal chawal is always there as my saviour. So I always keep on trying various varieties of daal. Recently my husband gave me Sanjeev kapoor's Tasty Eating for Healthy Living book set as a gift...quite a surprise for me...as he does not believe in giving surprise gifts:( so this came as a pleasant shock to me. And while going through the daals and kadhi's book volume 4 , I came across this easy recipe of daal lucknowi.

I have never added milk in my daal before so I was not sure as to how the taste would be...but to my surprise the daal was very smooth, creamy and delicious. And adding lots of garlic was another special feature of this recipe...overall we had a delicious lunch with this daal, rice and my favourite mango pickle.

Ingredients:

Spilt Pigeon Peas( toor daal)- 1 Cup ( Soaked for about an hour)
Green Chillies- 2 Chopped
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- to taste
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Red Chillies- 3 broken
Garlic Cloves- 4 Chopped
Asafoetida- a Pinch
Milk- 1 Cup ( I used skimmed)

Procedure:

• Wash the soaked daal and pressure Cook the daal and green chillies with 2 cups of water in a pressure cook till 2 whistles. When the pressure is reduced completely open the lid and add turmeric powder and salt and simmer on low heat.
• Heat the ghee and add cumin seeds, red chillies, garlic and asafoetida for tempering. Saute till garlic gets cooked . Pour the tempering in the daal and mix well.
• Add 1 cup of milk and water as per required thickness and continue to simmer it for further 5 minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

Sending this daal to Cooking With Whole Foods- LB-Toor Daal event started by Kiran and hosted by Suma of Veggie Platter

Daal Makhani

Daal Makhani is one of my favourite daals. The rich and thick daal is a treat to be eaten with parathas, roti but tastes best with hot steamed white rice. The daal is cooked in simmer for a long time and made with butter and garnished with cream.

Ingredients:

Black Daal( Whole Urad)- 1 Cup

Red Rajma- 1/4 Cup

Onion- 1 Big

Ginger- 2 inch piece

Garlic- 2 or 3 Cloves

Tomatoes- 3 Big

Heeng- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Spices:

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Daal Makhani Masala- 2 tsp ( I use catch brand) or Garam Masala- 1 tsp

Butter - 2tbsp + 1 tbsp for garnishing

Fresh Cream- 1/4 Cup

Coriander leaves- For garnishing

Procedure:

• Soak black daal and rajma together for overnight.
• Wash the daals and add it in pressure cooker along with 5 cups of water, heeng and a tsp of salt.
• Pressure cook in medium high for 2 whistles and then keep the gas in simmer and let the daals cook for further 40- 45 minutes. Once cooked let the cooker cool down and then open the cooker and mash the daals little with the back of ladle.
• Meanwhile grind onions, ginger and garlic together and keep separate.
• Grind the tomatoes also and keep separate.
• In a deep kadhai heat 2 tbsp of butter and add mustard and cumin and let them splutter.
• Once spluttered add the onion paste and saute till the paste turns golden brown.
• Add the tomatoes paste, salt and all the spices and cook till the paste starts leaving oil from side.
• Add the cooked daal and mix everything nicely. Keep the daal for simmering for atleast 1/2 an hour stirring in between.
• Add in remaining 1 tbsp of butter, fresh cream and coriander leaves and switch off the gas.

Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Sending this daal to hearth and soul blog hop event co hosted by my dear friend kankana.

Also to A.W.E.D started by DK and hosted by Ayeesha of Taste of Pearl City

ICC for February - Gujarati Daal

Daal is frequently made in my house. I like to make various varieties of daals but have never tried gujarati daal. I want to thank Srivalli for joining me in the ICC and giving me an opportunity to try this daal. Srivalli selected authentic gujarati daal from the cookbook Sukham Ayu co authored by Jigyasa giri and Pratibha jain.

This daal turned out great and was loved by everyone including my lil one who is otherwise not very fond of daals. We had this daal with hot rotis.

Ingredients:

Toor Daal - 1/2 cup (soaked for 1/2 hour)

Haldi (Turmeric)- 1/2 tsp

Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp

Jaggery - 2 tsp

Hard dry dates( kharak) - 4 halved

Drumsticks - 2 (cut in 2 inch pieces)

Groundnuts - 1 tbsp

Green Chillies - 2 slit

Ginger - 1 inch piece ( finely chopped)

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp ( For garnishing)

Coriander Leaves - for garnishing

Salt - to taste

Tadka :

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 2

Heeng - 1/4 tsp

Curry Leaves - few

Procedure :

• Pressure cook soaked daal with turmeric in 2 cups of water for 3 whistles or till it turns soft. Churn well.
• Transfer the cooked daal in a kadhai and add all the ingredients except tempering ingredients and garam masala and coriander leaves.
• Add 1 cup of water and allow the daal to simmer for 15-20 mins. The more the daal simmers the better the taste.
• In a pan prepare the tempering by adding ghee and heating it then add mustard, fenugreek, cumin , red chillies, heeng and curry leaves. Add tempering to the daal.
• Boil the daal for another 5- 10 mins then switch off the gas.
• Add garam masala and coriander leaves for garnishing.
• Serve hot and fresh.

I have kept the original recipe only excluding Yam.