Maa Choley Ki Dal – A comforting, creamy and easy North Indian style mixed dal preparation
This is a comforting, creamy and easy North Indian style mixed dal preparation. It is a staple dal cooked in almost every Punjabi household on a regular basis. It is made with split black urad dal and chana dal. It is served with steamed rice, jeera rice, parathas or naan.
Maah Choley Ki Dal is quite similar to the popular Langar Wali Dal, which is served in Gurdwaras in Punjab and all over the world. The only difference is that split urad dal with the skin is used to make Maah Choley Ki Dal, so it cooks faster. In Langar Wali Dal, mostly whole urad dal is used, though there is no fixed recipe for making Langar Wali Dal.
In Langars, people contribute money, pulses, wheat, rice, vegetables and fresh produce from their fields. Everything is collected, cooked and served in the langar. Langar Wali Dal is also made with a mix of the dals available in the Gurdwara. As urad is one of the main crops of Punjab, mainly urad dal is used in Langar Wali Dal. Therefore, there is no fixed recipe or ratio; it depends on the availability of pulses. Langar wali dal is slow cooked on tandoors for a long time and have a distinct smoky taste.
Maah Choley Ki Dal is an easy and quick recipe as compared to the Dal Makhni, as it takes less time to cook .It is also lighter on the stomach because it is cooked with less oil and ghee and not as rich as Dal Makhni. The tomato masala is cooked in less oil or ghee and the rest of the process and spices are almost similar in all these dal preparations.
Ingredients Needed-
- Maa Ki Daal – Maa or Maah means black urad dal. For this recipe, we need split urad dal with chilka.
- Choley – In this recipe, Choley refers to chana dal, not Kabuli chana or chickpeas.
- Tomatoes – To make the gravy, we need fresh tomatoes, or you can use ready tomato puree or paste.
- Herbs – Green chili, ginger, fresh coriander and lemon juice.
- Spices – Basic spices such as salt, cumin, red chili powder, kasuri methi, turmeric, coriander powder, etc.
- Ghee – Ghee gives a nice aroma and taste to the dal, but you can use any neutral oil of your choice.
How to Make Maa Choley Ki Dal
Wash both dals 2–3 times and then soak them for around one hour. Drain the water and wash them again.
In a pressure cooker, add the soaked dals, turmeric, black whole cardamom and half of the ginger. Add enough water to cover the lentils by 2 inches and cook for 2-3 whistles. Open the cooker when it cools down and check whether the dal is cooked properly, if not then cook for some more whistles. Lightly mash the dal with a ladle.
Heat ghee or oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, asafoetida, bay leaves, chopped green chilies and ginger. Sauté for a few seconds. Then add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cover and cook until the tomatoes become soft. Now add the remaining spices and sauté until the ghee starts separating from the sides.
Now add the boiled dal to the tomato masala. Add water to adjust the consistency according to your liking. Simmer the dal for around 5–8 minutes, until it reaches the desired consistency.
Add lemon juice and fresh coriander. Serve with rice, roti or parathas
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Maa Choley Ki Dal
Maa choley Ki dall- a delicious easy to cook black lentil and bengal gram dal
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup Split Black Urad daal
- 3/4 cup Bengal gram /chana daal
- 3 Tomatoes / Tamatar
- 3 Green chili/hari mirch
- 1 tsp Ginger / Adrak
- handful Fresh Coriander / Cilantro / Hara Dhaniya
- 1 Lemons / Nimbu optional
- 3/4 tsp Turmeric Powder / Haldi Powder
- 1.5 tsp Red Chili Powder/ Laal Mirch
- 1.5 tsp Coriander Powder / Dhaniya Powder
- to taste Salt / Namak
- 1 tbsp Dried Fenugreek / Kasoori Methi
- 1/3 tsp Garam Masala Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds / Sabut Jeera
- 1/3 tsp Asafoetida / Hing powder
- 1 Black cardamom
- 4 tbsp Ghee or cooking oil
Instructions
- Wash both the lentils 2-3 times and then soak in enough water for around an hour.
- Drain the water, wash again and then add in the pressure cooker with turmeric, salt and half quantity of ginger and a tsp of oil, add water to cover the lentil 2 inch above the level.
- Pressure cook for 2- 3 whistles on medium heat . Check the done ness when cooker cool down an slightly mash with the ladle
- In a heavy bottom pan add ghee or oil and then add cumin seeds, asafoetida, green chilies , ginger and sauté for few seconds.
- Now add the chopped tomatoes and salt , cover and cook till tomatoes become soft.
- Add rest of the spices and sauté till oil or ghee start separating from the masala.
- Add the boiled dal in the masala and add hot water to adjust the consistency of your preference.
- Now mix and simmer the dal for 5-8 minutes till it reached to your desired consistency. Switch off the heat
- Add fresh chopped coriander and lemon juice and mix.
- Serve with a spoon or ghee or butter on top with hot steamed jeera rice/ naan or parathas.
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