Taking the weekend by storm - Dal Pakwaan

Dal Pakwaan and Black Coffee

As I had promised, this blog will be a whirlwind of adventure involving food, travel and recipes, this delicious bowl of Dal and crispy petit Pakwaans will do good on my promise. Preparing good food requires your time, attention and a hell lot of planning. But when some dishes just come together (due to your earlier failed plans), you can't help but love them and yourself all the more!!

About 3 days back, I had soaked some masoor dal for lunch, but Husband had to go out for team lunch and it did not make sense to prepare lunch for only one person. So I stashed away the soaked dal in fridge. At the same time I had been waiting to make kairichi dal for quite some time now, so I decided to soak some chana dal for the same. And i was stuck with an irresistible craving for Dal Pakwaan, so I soaked some extra chana dal. I decided to prepare the dal in the evening and pakwaan fresh and hot in the morning, just before breakfast. The Dal took a bit of time to be cooked and I messed up a little bit in the process of Dal preparation (since it was late in the evening and I was also making Sourdough bread which is a weekly staple in my house), but it was one hell of exquisite thick concoction!!

This recipe is adapted from Goya Journal.

Ingredients

Makes for 2 people.

For the dal 1 cup chana dal

1 cup masoor dal 1 onion, finely chopped 2 tomatoes, pureed 1 green chilli, finely chopped 2 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp cumin seeds 1½ tsp red chilli powder 2 tsp vegetable oil Salt to taste

For the pakwan 1 cups maida Water to knead the dough 1/2 tsp carom seeds

1/2 tsp Ghee

A pinch of chili powder Oil, to deep fry Salt to taste

Method

To make the dal

1. Soak both the dals separately and for as much time possible. Preferably overnight. 2. Combine the dals and wash them under running water and put it in a pressure cooker with 4 to 4.5 cups of water, green chili, salt and 1 tsp of of turmeric. 3. Cook for 4-5 whistles and turn off the heat. The dal has to be mushy. 4. Heat oil in a Kadhai and add the cumin seeds and onion. 5. Saute till the onions are almost brown. 6. Next add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes. (I goofed up here. Forgot to add tomato puree and added the spices and dal. Luckily I realized it as soon as I added the dal, so I immediately chucked the puree with it.) 7. Add the red chilii powder, remaining turmeric powder and salt. 8. Add in the dal and let it cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes before removing from the heat.

To make the pakwan

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together except the water. 2. Slowly add a little water as per your flour's capacity to take in water, to knead the dough. 3. The dough should not be as hard as the dough for pooris, nor as soft that for chapattis. 4. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes. 5. Use a rolling pin to shape into either small rounds or make a big chapati and cut out small rounds using big cookie cutters.

5. Slash these pakwaans using knife or poke them with a fork. 6. Heat oil in a pan, and deep fry the flatbreads till they become crispy. 7. Transfer to a paper towel to remove excess oil before serving.

To serve with Dal Pakwan

Green coriander chutney

Fresh coriander ground to a paste, along with water, salt, green chilies and some tamarind water (chincecha kol in marathi). You can also use kairi instead of tamarind, since it is in the season or lemon instead of tamarind or kairi, and onion, garlic.

Finely chopped onion to be sprinkled on dal smeared with Green chutney. You can also spice up the onion by soaking it in water first and then tossing it with lemon, chili powder and a pinch of chat masala before sprinkling over the dal.

To eat

Empty stomach, because this is super delicious and you would want to keep eating even after you are full.

Black coffee - personal favorite but you can add tea or milk coffee, whatever you like!

Last but not the least, do try this at home and let me know if you have any variations. I would love to hear from you guys. Bon Appetit!