Cholar Dal

Cholar Dal

Narkol Diye Cholar Dal(Chana Dal/Bengal gram) is a quintessential Bengali dish. I remember my grandmother grating the coconut on an old fashioned grater. It used to be a big block of wood with the steel grater poking out the front. You had to sit with folded legs on the floor, press down on the wooden block to keep it in place and grate the coconut. You had to exert a good enough pressure and it used to be quite a task.

In fact cooking in those days used to be a labour of love. Mixers and ready made masalas were not easily available and even when they it was not commonly used. I remember my grandmother soaking cumin seeds and coriander seeds first thing in the morning and all the masala was ground fresh on the grinding stone. And it really used to make a difference to the taste of the dish. That freshness is no longer there in our food as we have started using mass produced commercially available ready made masalas.

Coming back to the Cholar Dal, I don’t have access to a coconut grater and so I have used chopped coconut in the dish. It works just as well although grated coconut gives it a certain creaminess.

Ingredients

1 cup cholar dal/chana dal

1 tbsp grated ginger

½ cup chopped/grated coconut

1 bay leaf

2-3 dry red chillies

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tso coriander powder

1 tbsp ghee

Salt to taste

1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp turmeric powder

Soak the cholar dal overnight. Pressure cook it with salt and turmeric till it is soft and mushy.

Heat the ghee. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf and dry red chillies. 

Once they start spluttering add half the grated ginger. Add the cumin powder and coriander powder. 

Saute for a few seconds and then add the chopped coconut. Stir for a minute. 

Add the whole coconut masala to the boiled dal. Add sugar. Check the salt. 

Add some water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes. 

Now add the other half of the grated ginger and take off the heat. The slightly raw smell of the ginger adds to the flavour. 

Garnish with some grated coconut.