Chana dal with Paneer (Split Bengal gram with fresh cheese)

• Servings: 4-5
• Soaking time: 2 hours.
• Preparation time: 4 minutes.
• Frying time: 11 minutes.
• Cooking time: 12 minutes.
• Tadaka (seasoning): 2 minute
• Total time: 29 minutes.

The most awaited day of the week arrived, as always we had planned to have get-together with my extended family on lunch. I was sipping my morning tea and turned over the pages of magazine I read somewhere that the latest version of oxford dictionary included the two Indian words chana and chana dal. At that very moment I planned to prepare the recipe of ‘Chana dal with paneer’.

It is very interesting recipe; you can make easily in no time, above all it is the power house of protein.

Ingredients:

• Chana dal: 200gm
• Paneer: 250-300 gm.
• Turmeric powder: ½ teaspoon
• Cumin: half teaspoon
• Cinnamon: 2” stick
•  Black cardamom: 2 no.
• Green cardamom: 1 no.
• Clove: 3-4 no.
• Black pepper: 10-12 no.
• Dry red chilli: 2- 3 no.
• Bay leaf: 2 no.
• Ginger: 2 inch piece
• Garam masala powder: half teaspoon
• Garlic: 2-3 cloves
• Salt: 2 teaspoon (as per taste).
• Onion: 1 no. (Small)
• Tomato: 2-3 no. (Small)
• Ghee: 3 tablespoon
• Water: 500 ml

Seasoning:

1. Ghee:  1 tablespoon
2. Cumin: ½ teaspoon
3. Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon

Preparation:

1. Soak dal for 2 hours, keep aside.
2.  Finely chop onion, tomato, ginger and garlic, keep aside.
3. Cut paneer into cubes and fry, keep aside.

Method:

1. Put ghee in pressure cooker; add chilli, whole Garam masala and bay leaf fry for few seconds, add chopped ginger, garlic and onion, fry till light brown in colour (3-4 minutes).
2. Add chopped tomatoes; keep frying for couple of minutes or until ghee separates from side, add soaked dal, turmeric powder and salt.
3. Fry for about 3-4 minutes, pour water; close the lid, place cooker on maximum heat, bring to full cooking pressure, reduce to low flame and cook for 7-8 minutes. Put off the flame.
4. Allow cooker to cool and open; add fried paneer and cup of water (if required) put on the flame, when dal is just boiling, put off the flame.
5. Add Garam masala powder, transfer into serving bowl; add tadaka (seasoning) before serving.

Tadaka (seasoning):

1. Take fry pan, put ghee; add cumin, when it crackle put off the flame.
2. Add chilli powder and pour over the dal, and cover the lid.
3. Serve with any meal…

Chana dal with Paneer (Split Bengal gram with fresh cheese) by Nag Ratna Sahu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.