Daal Bhati Churma For ICC

There are certain recipe that tempts you to try them out immediately.And there are some that you know are going to turn out great and tasty yet find themselves in the bookmarks. This is one such recipe.I had bookmarked this famous combo a long time back and wanteed to do it for Srivalli’s Thali mela that she hosted last year but since it involves three recipes in a post, I kept putting it off as long as possible.

Finally I was able to pull myself to prepare it when Srivalli asked me to suggest something for the Indian Cooking Challenge.I was sure to make this since it would be a disgrace for me to suggest and then back out. I got around to preparing it just yesterday and it turned out to be a hit.

As you are aware,Daal Bhati Choorma is the famous trio from the Rajastani Cuisine. Rajasthan was a place of Rajas or Kings.The cuisine is very flavorful and is predominantly vegetarian. It is known for the abundant use of milk, buttermilk,ghee and lentils. Due to the lack of green vegetables [as the place is mostly a desert],dried lentils and besan / gram flour dumplings of various sorts are used instead of vegetables. In these arid regions, the cooks use less water for cooking and replace it with ghee. So the dishes are very flavorful and rich,not to mention the calories!!

Rajasthan’s famous Dal Bhati Churma has a different way of it being prepared by the locals.The bhati is traditionally cooked over live charcoal.Since it is not feasible , ovens / broilers and tandoors are used these days. It is nothing but unleavened hard bread or rather looks like a mini bun. The churma is the powdered fried wheat balls mixed with ghee,sugar and mixed nuts.

The bhatis are broken into bite sized pieces and are generally soaked in a bowl of melted ghee. The churma is made with wheat flour dumplings fried in ghee and later mixed with more ghee and of course the dhal is tempered with ghee. So one can how rich and mouth watering this dish will be….

Rajasthani Daal / Dhal
Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor

I used :


Pressure cook with 2 cups of water

Channa dal-1/2 cup
Moong dhal- 2 tablespoons
Ginger-1″ piece
Turmeric- a large pinch

Other ingredients

Ghee- 2 teaspoons
Cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida powder- 1/4 teaspoon
Red chillies-2 broken into bits
Onion- 1, chopped
Red chilli powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Amchur / dry mango powder- 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

1. Soak the dals for an hour and pressure cook it along with the ginger and turmeic and 2 cups of water and keep aside.

2. Heat ghee in a pan.

3.When the ghee is hot, put in cumin seeds,asafoetida powder and red chillies

4. Once the cumin seeds sizzle, add the onion and saute till soft.

5.Add the dhal and salt and 1/2 cup of water.

6. Add the chilli powder and simmer.

7.After 5 minutes add amchur / dry mango powder.

8.Simmer for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.

Bhatis
Adapted from Tarla Dalal

I used:

Wheat flour 3/4 cup
Besan/ gram flour- 2 tablespoon
Suji / White rave – 2 tabelspoon
Ghee-2 tablespoons
Ajwain /  Carom seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Ghee – or brushing the bathis

1.Take all the ingredients in a bowl.

2.Mix well.

3.Add the ghee and a little water and mix well

The dough should firm.Knead well.

4.Pinch out small balls and make a small depression in the center with your thumb. Heat water in a wide vessel and drop the bhatis carefully into it once the water starts boiling.

This is how they looked after 15 minutes.

5.Remove them from the water and place on a greased baking tra. Brush the bhatis liberally with ghee and bake in a pre heated oven at 200 degree Celsius for 20 minutes or till golden brown on all sides. Flip them over twice in between so that they are cooked evenly.

Once the bhatis are done, brush again with ghee and serve with dhal….

Churma
Adapted from Mharo Rajastan Recipes

I used :

Whole wheat flour – 1/2 cup
Besan-1 tablesspoon
Suji- 1 tablespoon
Oil for deep frying
Cashews,raisins,pistacho and almonds – a few each
Ghee to roast the nuts and some extra to add to churma – about 1/4 cup

1.Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a small pan and raost the nuts and raisins separately.Drain and keep aside.. The remaining ghee can be added while serving the churma.

2.Take the wheat flour,suji and besan in in a bowl.

3.Add a little ghee and water to make a stiff dough.

4.Pinch out small balls

5.Deep fry these balls in oil over medium heat .Traditionally these are fried in ghee!!!!

6.Remove them from heat once golden brown and fully cooked. If the balls are cooked over high flame, it will be brown on the outside and will be cooked on the inside.If that happens, break the balls into two or three pieces and re fry again over medium heat.

7.Once these balls cool done, powder them coarsely in a mixie and add ghee, mixed nuts, sugar .

Mix well and serve

Now here is the tasty trio…

Serve the Dal Bhati Churma together and not to be missed is a small bowl of melted ghee to dip in the bhatis….

I really enjoyed making these with Srivalli supporting my decision to get them done even if it was just before the last date!!

This recipe is off to Spice Foodie’s ‘Your Best Recipe’…

Bon Appetit…