I love to experiment with dal’s as I feel its that one thing without which your meal is incomplete. It goes hand-in-hand with roti or rice. But sometimes having the same type of dal brings in monotony and I’m always in the look out for different variations to it. I’ve had Dal Pachranga in restaurants and weddings before and found it quite interesting. I have this book by Sanjeev Kapoor, Dal-Roti which has come to my rescue many times. I’ve tried out Dal Pachranga from this book a couple of times before and its quite good. Its called Pachranga because 5 differnt dal’s are used in this recipe and all the flavors come together very well.

Its a gloomy day today..its been raining and haven’t seen the sun since morning…Filter coffee was on my mind and made myself a hot cup.. Its the weather which reflects on my mood..dull, gloomy, and all I did was swap the channels to see if something interesting caught my attention..Was very lazy to cook myself a meal for lunch.. There was some left over rice from yesterday’s dinner..so all I had to do was make a dal. I thought that Dal Pachranga would be perfect.

Here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:
1/4th cup bengal gram (chana dal),
1/4th cup whole green gram (green moong),
1/4th cup black gram (dhuli urad dal),
1/4th cup pigeon peas (tuar dal),
1/4th cup red lentils (masooor dal),
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp cumin seeds,
4-5 cloves,
2 dried red chillies, broken in half,
1 tsp cumin powder,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
2 medium tomatoes, chopped,
1 inch ginger, chopped,
2 green chillies, chopped,
1/2 tsp garam masala powder,
a pinch of asafoetida,
3 tbsp oil,
Salt as per taste,

Method:
1.) Wash all the pulses and soak for atleast 2 hrs. Boil with enough water, turmeric powder and salt till cooked well.
2.) Grind ginger and green chillies to a fine paste.
3.) Heat oil in a pan, add asafoetida, cumin seeds, cloves, and red chillies. When the cumin seeds being to change colour, add ginger-green chilli paste and saute for a few seconds.
4.) Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, and red chilli powder. Add the tomatoes and cook until the oil sperates. Add cooked lentils and additional water if required.
5.) Cook for 8-10 mins stirring occasionally. Add the garam masala and serve hot with roti or rice.

Delicious afternoon meal on a cold rainy day!!!