Cholar Dal -- uppity chana dal

I have no time today, really none, nada, no time at all. And yet I need to post this, which I cooked for no reason, really none but for Sra who is hosting MLLA -- 17. You can never imagine things you would do for a blog friendship and that includes sneaking upstairs to a darkened room to make a call to one's favorite blogger while real life friends and family banter down.

Cholar Dal is the dal with uber arrogance. It is a bit of a snob, not the kind you would like to come home to every day but the kind you would like to glamorize your dining table with when you have company. Standing alone, presumptuous, it might not seem to be the best thing to befriend. But when it has company with Kachuri or Luchi or even a Pulao it will dazzle you.

Cholar Dal narkel diye or cholar dal with coconut is a very popular bengali dish and is a fixed item on the menu on wedding feasts or during Durga puja bhog. It is mostly cooked on special occasions and that could be the only-son's-getting-the-visa-day to the only-son's-homecoming-day. Usually it is not an everyday dal though you could have it everyday and there is no one stopping you.

When I made it last week, I did not have coconut and so skipped it, instead I adorned the dal with almonds. It was delicious and all I wanted with it was some Kachuri. Maybe another day, another time.

This Dal goes to Sra for MLLA --17, brainchild of Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook



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Cholar Dal

Pressure Cook 1 cup of Chana Dal/Cholar Dal with
almost 2 & 1/2 cups of water
1 green cardamom,
1 clove,
1/4 tsp of turmeric
and little salt
for 6 minutes after steam has built up in the cooker or say about 10-12 mins on the whole. The lentils should be soft and cooked by this time, if not you need to cook more. Note: Once cooked, you may fish out the whole cardamom and whole clove from the dal. I will sometimes skip the whole garam masalas while pressure cooking and add only later.

Heat 1 tbsp of Oil (or Ghee) in a Kadhai or in a soup pot. Note: Ghee works best for this dal, if you don't want to use ghee as the cooking medium, add half a tsp towards the end for flavor.

Temper the oil with
1 small bay leaf,
2-3 green cardamom/elaichi,
2-3 clove/laung,
1" thin stick of cinnamon
and 2 dry red chili

Add a pinch of asafoetidia/hing to the oil

When you get the aroma of the spices add the cooked dal to the pot and saute. Do not add the dal water at this point. Reserve the dal water for later use.

Add a fistful of golden raisins, salt to taste, a pinch or two of turmeric and mix well. You can add a little grated ginger, I don't necessarily do it always.

Add about 1/2 - 1 cup of water and let the dal simmer till it comes to a boil. This dal will be on the thicker side and not very liquid, so simmer till it reaches a thick consistency.

Just before taking off the heat add 1/2 tsp of sugar and mix. Add 1/2 tsp of ghee if you have not used ghee for cooking. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Tip: If you are not used to whole garam masalas in your dal, fish out the cardamom, clove, bay leaf and cinnamon from the dal at this point.

Garnish with fried pieces of coconut. Since I didn't have coconut I garnished with blanched slivered almonds. You can also add a little grated coconut as the garnish.

Tip: A friend suggested adding a little Kasoori Methi to the dal at the very end for non-Bong touch. Have never tried that myself but she said it lends a nice flavor.

Quick Chicken Stir Fry -- for the kids

"Baby A loves to tickle and get tickled. She will stand in front of her big sis, pick up her sis's shirt and poke her sis's belly button saying "tikol-tikol". Big Sis S will stand there, wriggle, laugh out loud and aid the process. Wrapped up in such laughter, I pause my worries about Baby A's health and join in the merriment"

"We are back from a late dinner. Baby A is still awake, doesn't want to sleep yet though its way past bed time. I put both the sisters to bed, trying in vain to make them sleep. Big Sis S holds baby A tight, sings a "made up" song and pats vigorously. Strangely Baby A falls asleep. Doesn't happen every day but when it does, is the rare times that I feel blessed"

"Big Sis S is excited about an age old Mac, that her Dad has handed down to her. She browses over to Nick Jr to play something. Then she asks her Dad "Pichone tar ta ki lagano ache?"(Is the computer plugged in ?). "Why would you need it to be plugged in?" asks her Dad wondering if the battery is low. "This game here says Flash Plug-in required", she says"

"Baby A will call her Baba -- Babba, she will call her sis -- Babba, she will call me -- Babba. Unless she is in distress she will not say "Mamma" and if I say "Mamma bolo, Mamma" she will pat herself. Weird !!!" Recent Update: she is now calling me "Mamma", hurray but only 50% of the time

I am thankful for these moments. I am thankful for the freedom to blog, to retreat into a world where I can forget my cares. I am thankful for being around.

Appreciate the small moments that each day brings and once in a while try to be thankful for them. I am not a pro at this, just trying.

Happy Thanksgiving. See you all next week.

While you are busy making the turkey or whatever that you do on Thanksgiving, you might need a simple yet appetizing recipe for the kiddos. This Quick Stir Fry Chicken is really quick and easy and tastes great. Every kid should love it, ok at least like it.

"Does S, your almost 6 year old, like it ?" you, the regular reader might ask.

I would gulp a few and be totally honest, just because you are the regular reader.

"Well I am not sure", I will say. "She liked it at least 3 times in the last 3 years and that is something."

And then I will say "But the last time I made it which is just a couple days back, she preferred the Pepper Shrimp to Chicken Stir fry. Actually even the other kid who was invited, took several servings of Pepper Shrimp and only one of this."

Just ignore that discussion, I love this dish and so does D. I follow almost the same recipe when I make a chili chicken, will post that sometime. For now, if you have adults in mind add some chopped green chilis and a dash of hot sauce, it will make them swoon.


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Quick Chicken Stir Fry

Marinate 2& 1/2 -- 3 lb chicken cut in small pieces with
1 tsp of Garlic paste,
1 tsp of Ginger paste,
and salt for an hour or half

When you are ready to cook add
1&1/2 tsp of Soy Sauce or Tamari,
1 beaten egg
& 1 tbsp of Corn flour to the chicken pieces and combine

Heat Oil in a wok or kadhai or a saute pan

Add the chicken pieces in a single layer and fry till they are lightly browned. Remove the lightly fried chicken pieces and keep aside

To the same oil, add 1 clove of garlic finely minced. Note: If for grownups, add 2-3 green chili finely chopped

When you get the flavor of garlic( careful don't burn the garlic) add 1 cup sliced onions. Fry till onion is pinkish brown.

Add 1/2 cup of french cut beans and 1 red/yellow/green bell pepper thinly sliced. Saute for 2-3 minutes

Add 1 tsp of Soy sauce + 1-2 tsp of tomato ketchup(the kids brand) + salt and mix. Note: Soy sauce has salt so careful. Instead of tomato ketchup add some Hot sauce or Sambal Olek if it intended for grown ups.

Add the fried chicken pieces & saute for couple more minutes combining the sauce and veggies. Add about 1/4 cup of water and cook uncovered till chicken is done

Serve with fried rice or noodles

Similar Recipes:


Chicken Fry
Ginger Chicken -- My Style

Bengali Fish Fry --- anglo bangla fry

The Bengali fish fry is not really the everyday bengali fish fry. The everyday bengali fish fry is actually the maach bhaja, steak pieces of fish, smeared with salt and turmeric and fried golden in smoking mustard oil. The maach bhaja can be eaten on its own as a side with the dal. It is also a precursor to the bengali fish curry, the every day maacher jhol, bengalis rarely make a fish curry where the fish has not been fried and it is these fried steak pieces that are slid into the gravy and left to simmer to complement each other.

However when a Bong says "Fish Fry" with a glazed look in his eyes and a dreamy smile, don't get fooled, he isn't thinking of Katrina Kaif, she isn't dreaming Hugh Grant, both are thinking of a Bong version of their British legacy, breaded and fried fish, famously known as what else but "Fish Fry".

The "Fish Fry" was not a household name when I was a child. First we weren't in the heart of Bengal ever and secondly my childhood now seems to go back to the days when life was very different from today's. I had my first taste of fish fry when we were attending some family wedding in Kolkata, I don't remember when. The taste was heavenly as everything else tasted in wedding feasts of the yore but the fish fry stood out because of its anglo heritage among the radhaballavi, cholar dal, begun bhaja and such.

We then had it at some specific Calcutta restaurants, probably "Bijoli Grill". Though honestly I preferred the Kobiraji Cutlet around College Street, and associated "Fish Fry" more with wedding feasts.

Gradually everyone realized that making "Fish Fry" with bhetki(the preferred fish for making fish fry in Bengal) wasn't really such a big deal after all and almost every other house started making a fish fry. Every wedding feast had a Fish Fry and later Fish Orly on their menu.

We rarely make fried goodies at home and by the time I make an attempt I forget the recipe I followed maybe a year back. The recipe that I have used this time here is that of my friend's, the domestic diva of 70 chops, everyone else's recipe is almost exactly same so go on be creative.

The crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, fish fry tastes great as a snack with hot tea on the side and company to keep you warm. It also acts as a wonderful appetizer or even a side to the main menu when you are entertaining.


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Bengali Fish Fry

I had 3 fillets of Tilapia cut in 12 pieces, each fillet in 4 that is. Each piece was about a 3"x 2" piece or smaller. You can use fillet of fish like Bhetki if in India or Cod, Tilapia when Bhetki is not available.

Make a paste of
1/2 of a small red onion,
2 fat cloves of garlic,
1/2" piece of peeled and chopped ginger(or 1 tbsp of peeled & chopped ginger),
2 green chili
with little water. This is the paste that will be used to marinate the fish.

Put the fish pieces in one single layer in a shallow bowl. Sprinkle salt to taste on them.

Marinade the fish pieces with the
paste in step 2,
1 tbsp of vinegar or lime juice,
1 tsp of corriander powder,
1 tsp of Roasted Cumin Powder &
1/4 tsp of Garam Masala. All of the fish pieces should be nicely coated with the marinade

Cover & refrigerate overnight. If in a hurry, half an hour to an hour is fine.

Before you start frying, take each of the fish pieces out from the marinade and drain the excess liquid.

Set up a "breading station". First have a
flat plate of bread crumbs seasoned with salt and black pepper(you can also use all purpose flour seasoned with salt & pepper),

next a shallow bowl of 2 eggs whisked to a smooth consistency,

another flat plate of bread crumbs seasoned with salt & black pepper.

In a small Kadhai or Frying pan(suitable for deep frying) heat enough oil for deep frying.

Take the fish piece, roll it in bread crumb(or flour) --> dip it in the egg wash --> roll in bread crumb again gently rolling off any excess --> and then gently slide in the hot oil.

When the fish has nicely browned on both sides take out with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

Enjoy it hot off the Fryer with some mustard sauce or my all time favorite Maggi Hot & Sweet. A side of chopped onions & cucumber works wonder

If you are a vegetarian don't be disappointed you can make Paneer fingers just like this from here at Cooking and Recipes.



BTW was Chef Mehta on The Next Iron Chef using a bottle of Maggi Ketchup yesterday ? Was it me or did anyone else notice that ?