Recipe | Chana Dal

Chana Dal popularly known as Split chickpea is basically chickpea that has been split, skinned and polished. It has the same amazing nutty flavour as regular chickpeas. Split chickpea is commonly used in dishes that are slow cooked. One of my favourite ways to have it is the Persian dish called Khoresht Gheimeh. Split chickpeas are cooked with meat, tomatoes and Omani lime and then served with french fries and rice. It is so delicious and hearty.


This recipe is a simpler vegetarian version but cooks much faster. The trick to making it faster is boiling the split chickpeas with just a pinch of turmeric until it’s soft. When boiling it, you must make sure not to add salt because once salt is added to split chickpeas, it will take much longer to get soft. Strange, but true! You can add salt once it’s cooked. This dish can be eaten as a soup with bread, served with rice or, as a sauce with meat dumplings.

Recipe: Chana Dal
Serves 2–4

Ingredients

1 cup of Chana Dal also called split chickpeas
1 Medium size onion diced
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
3 Thai chillies (optional)
1–2 medium size tomatoes diced
¼ teaspoon of turmeric
½ teaspoon of curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of oil, preferably ghee

Method

In a deep pot, add chana dal, 4 cups of water and turmeric. Bring to a boil with the lid ajar. Cook until the dal is soft (press between fingers to test). Once soft, drain and set aside.

In a separate pan, on medium heat, fry onion, and garlic until light brown. Add ginger and chillies and cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and curry powder. Let the tomatoes cook until they have released their juices, sitting once in a while. When the tomatoes have completely dissolved, add dal and stir until fully coated with tomato mixture. Add water. You can either use the water you boiled the dal in or chicken stock. How much water or stock you want to add depends on how thick want the sauce to be (usually for stews, a ½ cup would be sufficient). Cover and let it simmer on medium-low heat for 15–20 minutes. Serve hot with rice or bread.