For my dals usually, I do it for no more than 2-3 minutes. Be careful though, if you leave it for a very long time, the dish becomes very smoky. This traps the smoke and gives the dish that smoky flavor. For this method, you heat up a piece of charcoal and then place that hot charcoal in a bowl which is placed over the dish.ĭrizzle some ghee or oil over the hot charcoal and as soon as you see fumes coming out, close the pot with the lid and let it remain like that for few minutes.

Smoke the dal- I love smoking my dals with dhungar method. But adding ghee is an option that you can use for more flavor. For this recipe, I have not used ghee and it was still fantastic. Use ghee for extra flavor- again not essential but adds to flavor. The kashmiri red chili powder gives the dal that beautiful color without adding much heat to it.ĭefinitely use kasuri methi– dried fenugreek leaves give a wonderful aroma to the dal, so do not skip on them especially if you are making a dal with lots of masala in it. Use good quality spices– even though we don’t add a ton of spices to this dal, still it’s important to use good quality spices here. Crushing the fresh ginger-garlic adds a lot of flavor. So use fresh tomatoes, fresh ginger-garlic, chilies. I never ever saw canned tomatoes or chilies being used in my house and we ate dal everyday. Use fresh ingredients– this is important since that’s how dal is traditionally made in India. Making a good dal is really easy, here’s what you should keep in mind. Please keep in mind that kashmiri red chili powder used here is not hot, if you want the dal to be spicier, you can replace half of it with regular chili powder.Ĭilantro: of course a good amount of cilantro is must for me in dal and this recipe is no exception. The spices that I used here are coriander, garam masala, kashmiri red chili powder (mainly for color) and kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves). The quantity of the spices is less since this is a dal and not a curry and we don’t want it to be totally overpowered with spices. Spices: I have used a bunch of spices in this recipe though not in large amount. The freshly pounded ginger and garlic give so much flavor to this dal. Garlic-Ginger-Chili: I love using fresh ginger and garlic here which I crush using a mortar and pestle and then use in the recipe. Onion & tomato: of course the key ingredient for the masala of this dal so do not skip on either of these. If you think only chana dal can be too heavy for your stomach, you can definitely replace 25% of it with a lighter alternative like toor or moong dal. This recipe uses onion, tomatoes which forms the base of the masala and a handful of spices to flavor the dal.Ĭhana Dal: this recipe uses 100% chana dal and no other lentils. This is optional but the smokiness does elevate the flavors. The dal also has a smoky flavor which is imparted to it through the dhungar method (infusing smoky flavor through hot charcoal). The recipe also works because all the wonderful spices and the fresh ingredients come together beautifully. Like do not use store bought ginger-garlic paste here, it just won’t have the same flavor. The fresh ingredients impart so much flavor to this recipe and so do not substitute them with store bought and canned stuff. There’s freshly chopped onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chili and cilantro. This is a north Indian style Chana Dal since I am from north India, this is how I make it. This recipe is so flavorful and what makes it work is the use of fresh ingredients. This is hands down my favorite Chana Dal Recipe and I am excited to share it with you guys! Why This Chana Dal Recipe Works I already have an instant pot chana dal recipe on the blog, that’s much easier and one pot so if you are looking for a super simple recipe, check that out.įor this recipe, I use few extra spices and steps and also boil the dal first and then make the masala in a separate pan and then mix the two. Now, I make a version in my kitchen quite often and I am sharing that with you guys. Most of the time it had a tadka (tempering) of onion, tomatoes, cumin seeds etc. We used to love it with rice also with warm rotis. This dal isn’t as light on the stomach as toor or moong dal and probably that’s the reason that it wasn’t made everyday in my house. Because it was a change from the regular dal.

I would come back from school and if I saw chana dal on the table, I would be delighted. Mom made chana dal once in every few months when we got super bored of eating the same toor dal everyday. Mainly because it wasn’t made everyday in my house unlike toor/arhar dal. Made with fresh ingredients and a handful of spices, this dal is packed with flavors!Ĭhana dal had a special place in my heart growing up. Please read our disclosure policy.Ĭhana Dal is one of my favorite dals to enjoy with rice.

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