Cholar Dal
A traditional Bengali delight, Cholar Dal is a mildly sweet, spiced chana dal dish enriched with coconut, raisins, and ghee—perfect with luchi or steamed rice.
Sarfapremium
Mustard Oil 1L Pouch
100% Pure, Unrefined &
Cold-pressed
Cholar Dal Recipe | Bengali Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g chhola or chana dal (split Bengal gram)
- 20 g coconut (thinly sliced)
- 20 g raisins
- 20 g mustard oil
- 1 pc cinnamon
- 5 pcs cardamom
- 3 pcs cloves
- 4 pcs bay leaves
- 2 pcs dried red chillies
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 30 g ginger paste
- 2 g turmeric powder
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- 3 g cumin powder
- 6 pcs green chillies (slit)
- ¼ tsp Bengali garam masala
Instructions
- Rinse the chhola’r dal well and soak it in water for at least 2 hours. After this time, strain the dal and transfer it to a boiling pot or pressure cooker. Add 700 g water, 6 g salt, and the bay leaves. Boil the dal until it is tender, but the grains are still whole. On medium heat, our chhola’r dal cooks to the desired doneness in 2 whistles. The time may vary for you.
- Before cooking, make a spice slurry by mixing the ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and 50 g water. Also, slice the coconut.
- Heat mustard oil in a pan (on medium heat) and once it starts to smoke lightly and changes colour to a pale yellow, add the thinly sliced coconut. Fry until the coconut turns golden brown. This should take about a minute. Remove from the oil and set aside.
- Temper the same oil with the dried red chillies, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin seeds.
- Add the spice slurry we made earlier to the pan. Fry on medium heat until the raw smell of the spices is gone. This should take about 6 minutes. Add the raisins, and continue frying until you see oil leaving the sides of the spice mixture.
- Add the boiled dal and the water to the pan.
- Add the remaining salt (12 g) and allow the dal to bubble until it thickens (about 6 to 8 minutes). Depending on your dal’s soft or hard, you may have to adjust the flame and water accordingly. For example, if your dal is still slightly hard, boil on low heat, adding water to maintain consistency, until it is cooked. If it is on the softer, mushier side (first of all, you need to make note of where you went wrong and try correcting the boiling time on your next attempt!), turn up the flame to thicken the dal quickly.
- Pick out a softened green chili from the dal, mash it with the back of a spoon and add it back to the dal. Add the sugar and bubble for about a minute before stirring in the ghee, Bengali garam masala, and fried coconut. Allow the dal to rest, covered, for 2 minutes before serving.
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