Dal Pakwan (Sindhi Recipe)

Servings: 6-7
Dal Boiling time: 12 minutes.
Preparation time for Dal: 5 minutes.
Seasoning time: 2 minutes.
Total time: 22 minutes.
Preparation time for Pakwan: 5 minutes.
resting time for dough: 20-30 minutes.
Rolling and frying time of Pakwan: 2-3 minutes each.

Yesterday, I served Dal Pakwan as a starter. Dal Pakwan is a popular Sindhi breakfast dish, in which it consists of crispy fried bread called Pakwan and a hearty, spiced dal (lentil curry). The pakwan is a crisp, flaky flatbread made from maida (refined flour) seasoned with cumin seeds and carom seeds, which gives it a distinctive flavour. The dal typically used is chana dal (split Bengal gram), which is cooked until tender and then tempered with aromatic spices.

The crispy pakwans paired with the flavourful chana dal created a perfect opening to our lunch. A beautifully arranged thali to mark the farewell of a dear family friend moving to another city.

The thali was a splendid assortment of flavours and textures, featuring rich Paneer Tikka Masala, nutritious Red Amaranth Saag, cooling Curd Rice, fragrant Vegetable Pulao, fresh Green Salad, sweet Rice Kheer, and soft Chapati.

Symbolising a blend of the old memories, we cherished the new beginnings for our friend in new city of their stay. It was a thoughtful way to express our wishes for their journey ahead.

Ingredients:

For Chana Dal:

Chana Dal( Bengal gram Dal): 100 gm
Turmeric powder: 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin: half teaspoon
Bay leaf: 1 no.
Ginger: 2 inch piece
Ginger paste: 1/4 teaspoon
Green chilies: 2 no.
Salt: 1 teaspoon (as per taste).
Garam masala powder: half teaspoon
Fresh coriander leaf: 50 gm
Onion: 1 no. (Small)
Mango powder: 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee: 1 tablespoon
Water: 300 ml

Preparation:

Grate ginger, keep aside.
Chop onion, green chilli and coriander leaves in small pieces. Keep aside.

Method:

Boil Dal with salt, turmeric powder and ginger paste in the pressure cooker on high flame.
Bring to full cooking pressure, reduce to low flame and cook for 6-7 minutes.
Allow cooker to cool and open. Keep aside.
Add Garam masala powder and dry mango powder, Keep aside.

seasoning:

Take fry pan, put ghee; add cumin, sputter for few seconds, add seasoning into boiled Dal, cover it.
Serve with pakwan along with chopped onion, green and tamarind chutney.

Dal Pakwan (Sindhi Recipe): Dal ingredients

For Pakwan:

Refined Flour ( Maida): 2 cup
Semolina (Rava): 2 tablespoon
Salt: 1 teaspoon
Ajwain (Carom Seeds): 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin: 1/4 teaspoon
Sesame oil/Cooking oil: 2 tablespoon(for moin that is put it into dough itself).
Water: 3/4 cup or as per requirement
Sesame Oil: for deep frying

Preparation:

For making dough:

Take a wide vessel; put maida, rava, oil (as moin), ajwain and salt. Mix well by rubbing between palms.
Add water in small quantity and knead them, if required, put some more water, take care that the dough remains a bit harder than chapati dough. Soft dough is not suitable for this dish (The dough can be made in food processor also)
Cover and Keep aside, to be used after half an hour

Method:

Divide dough into 16-18 parts and make balls; roll the ball (thin) into about 5”diameter as in photo (for rolling the pakwan very light dusting to be done).
Prick all over with fork (to ensures that pakwan doesn’t puff up while frying. Prepare all balls like this keep aside.
Take a deep fry pan, put oil and heat on medium flame.
To check if oil is ready put a little piece of dough in the oil it comes up slowly.
Deep fry each pakwan on medium low flame until it gets golden and crisp from both sides.(about 2-3 minutes).
Take it out on the paper napkin to remove Excess oil.
Serve hot Pakwan with prepared dal.
Serve with Green Chutney, Tamarind Chutney, finely chopped onion, coriander leaves, ginger julian and green chilli.

Note:

You can prepare Pakwan in advance and store in airtight containers to serve after.
if it is fried on high heat, it will be soft. It will not be crispy.