Easy Chana Dal

Chana Dal is hearty, nutritious, makes for a healthy and fulfilling dinner with rice or roti, and is flavourful from a handful of spices.

It is often a dish made from convenience in my house because it is easy and packs a punch of nutrients. I have a Jeera rice recipe that pairs well with this. Plain white or brown rice is commonly served with chana dal.

What is Chana Dal

Chana Dal  – You shall find this in most orders in Indian restaurants if it’s a dine-in. Chana dal in English is split-chickpeas, which is yellow in color, rounded on one side, and flat on the other. It is also known as Bengal gram.

It is widely used to make Dal or curry in Indian cuisine. Not only is this a nutritious and healthy dish, but it also has flavour from the tempering, tomatoes, onions, and other spices in it.

Split-desi chickpeas are grounded to a powder form which is known as Besan or Yellow gram flour. Besan is used widely as a batter, thickening agent, or even to make sweet items in India.

This dish can be a curry with Roti (Indian flatbreads), rice, parathas, or chapatis. With these, it makes a wholesome meal by itself because of the nutrition profile of chana dal. It is also had with other accompanying curries.

Traditionally a north-Indian household dish, especially Punjab, chana dal, has spread across the country. You can find this dish in restaurants all over the country now.

Chana Dal dishes, Dal fry & Dal tadka

Chana dal can be made as a curry similar to a Dal Tadka and is not too different from a Dal fry. The cooking technique is almost the same as chana dal is washed, boiled to a mushy and soft texture, and mixed with cooked tomatoes, onions, and other spices.

Dal fry or Dal tadka are usually made with Toor dal and may sometimes be made with chana dal, moong dal, or masoor dal. If you use a different dal than chana dal, you can’t call it the same.

One can also customize by adding vegetables like Lauki (Bottle gourd). It improves the taste and makes it even more nutritious.

Chana dal khichdi is another common dish that includes rice and chana dal cooked together to a porridge-like texture. It is Indian comfort food at its best that is better had with pickles or some vegetable dishes.

Chana dal namkeen (snacks) is quite famous, and many brands offer these snacks made of fried and salted chana dal. It is also used as a filling in other snacks.

Is Chana Dal healthy?

Chana dal is very nutritious. Its impressive nutrition profile boasts of various nutrients like a good amount of fiber, protein, iron, manganese, and copper.

For vegetarians, it offers an excellent source of plant-based protein. It also contains many amino acids barring very few, which are vital for your health and digestion.

Protein and fiber in chana dal give a satiating feeling which helps you keep your portion under control, and the fiber in it aids in digestion. So if you like to have something nutritious and fulfilling, try chana dal with any other protein or carb.

The carbs in chana dal are complex carbohydrates that pack more nutrients and are a good energy source. One should always prefer complex carbs in place of simple carbs.

Ingredients

Do not be intimidated by the long list of ingredients to make chana dal. It uses a variety of spices but in small quantities, and the making process is quite simple.  You need to arrange the following spices, which are widely available in any Indian retail store.

• Dry Chana Dal
• Bay leaf
• Cinnamon
• Dry Chana Dal
• Oil
• Bay leaf
• Cinnamon
• Cumin/ Jeera
• Onion –  diced
• Ginger garlic paste
• Tomatoes Chopped
• Chilli chopped
• Turmeric powder
• Red chilli powder (increase up to 1 teaspoon for extra spicy)
• Kashmiri Red chilli powder
• Coriander Powder
• Cumin Powder
• Garam Masala
• Kasturi Methi
• Ghee
• salt to taste
• Fresh Coriander leaves for garnishing

How to make

Making chana dal is similar to cooking a host of other Indian curries. The only difference is in other curries, the main ingredient would be a vegetable/s or meat, but here it is chana dal.

The way the onions are fried, tomatoes are cooked, and sautéed is common to cooking curries in Indian cuisine. If you are new to Indian cuisine, then this is a good place to start with. The dal needs to be a mushy texture, so you do not have to worry as you would do with other veggies or meat.

• Make the Dal ready – Wash the dal and soak it.
• Cook Onion – In a pressure cooker / Instant pot, heat oil and cook the onion after adding cinnamon, bay leaf and cumin.
• Spices – Add the rest of the spices – chili, turmeric, powder of red chili, coriander and cumin.
• Tomatoes – add chopped tomatoes to the spice onion mix and cook until it blends and mixes with the rest of the spices
• Add Dal – Add the soaked dal, garam masala and water. Cook until the pressure releases naturally.
• Cook for 5 minutes – Add Kasturi methi and cook for another 5 minutes. You may add water to achieve the desired consistency.
• Serve with chopped coriander leaves.

Top Tips

• Soak chana dal in water after washing them ideally for an hour. 30 minutes is a minimum here. Soaking in water removes any toxic or hard-to-digest substances and makes mineral absorption of any lentils easy for the human body.
• When you add spices like cumin to hot oil, wait until they splutter. That helps in releasing their aroma. It usually needs 30 seconds. Do not wait too long because they will burn and give a burnt taste to the whole dish and spoil it.
• Onions should always be sauteed until they are golden brown. It removes the rawness of the onions and makes them sweet to taste.
• After adding other spice powders to the mix, sauté them well until they lose their raw smell.
• You can also cook chana dal in a pan by covering it though I prefer a pressure cooker because cooking lentils in a cooker or instant pot is way faster and convenient.
• You can control the consistency of the curry by either adding more water to make it thinner or keep it simmering to thicken it further.