Bengali Cholar Dal

Chholar dal is unlike any other dal in the Bengali household. We have a clear hierarchy, you see. The red lentil, or Mushoor dal is for everyday. it is a watered down dal that you have with rice and some wonderful-smelling lemon. Moong dal is for when you invite people over, and the aromatic dal is served with piping hot rice and some bhaja on the side. It is also the dal that takes a lot of forms: you can cook it with lau, bori, other veggies and a host of other things.

 But chholar dal outranks moong dal. It is for absolutely special days. These are days when we have luchi or parota instead of bhaat. For mothers, it is the day of Shashti. For others, it is the Ashtami noon when Bengalis generally have vegetarian lunches, or on birthdays when you are served a special meal. And almost always, chholar dal is served with luchi or parota. It is sweet, thick, and has bits of coconut in it, often raisins and cashews...and makes the perfect accompaniment to the divine, white luchis that are served to you straight from the wok.

I am not a huge fan of dal generally, but I do have a huge thing for chholar dal. My earliest memories of it are of my uncle getting huge tiffin carriers of it to our place. He had a flourishing caterer business and often at night, after yet another wedding, he'd stop by our place to drop off the leftover biryani or radhaballabhi and chholar dal because he knew I loved those things. He passed away a long time ago, and then the apple fell far from the tree, so my treats stopped. And these days Bengalis don't seem to prefer radhaballabhis and chholar dals at weddings at all. It's all about Baby Nuns and Navratan Kormas.

So the only times I get to have chholar dal these days are when it is made at home. The taste of my uncle's cook is never there, but what the hell, this is something at least, right?

When you cook it, do remember that chholar dal takes a  little longer than moong or mushoor dal to cook and it gets thicker when it rests. It is supposed to be sweet-ish and definitely not soupy. 

What You Need:

Chholar dal, turmeric powder, salt to taste, cumin seeds, chopped coconuts, raisins, cashewnuts, dry red chillies, ginger paste, ghee

How I do it:

Wash the dal and put it in a pressure cooker to cook. Do not overcook, the grains should still be separate. 

Now heat oil, fry the chopped coconut pieces, raisins and cashews and drain. Set aside.

Heat ghee and temper with cumin seeds. Now add the ginger paste and red chilli peppers and wait till the raw smell of ginger leaves.

Add the boiled dal to this. Also add the fried coconut, raisins and cashews as well as the turmeric powder, salt and sugar (the dal should be sweet, remember?). Bring to a boil and remove. Add a little ghee from the top and serve.