How to cook chana dal

General directions for cooking chana dal
– just plain chana dal to use in recipes that call for cooked chana dal

This recipe is for 3 cups of uncooked (about 8 cups of cooked) chana dal. I like to make a lot of chana dal at one time and freeze what I don’t use right away.

Ingredients
3 cups uncooked chana dal
cold tap water (for rinsing)
6 cups cold tap water (for cooking)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bircarbonate)

Step I: Inspect and pick over chana dal
Inspect the chana dal for foreign matter. Discard foreign matter and grey shriveled-looking chana dal, if any.

Step II: Rinse chana dal
Place the chana dal into a strainer (or small collander) and place the strainer into a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold tap water and, using your hands, mix the dal around; discard the rinse water. Repeat this rinsing process 3 or 4 times until the water runs almost clear. Discard the final rinse water out of the bowl.

Rinsed and drained chana dal – ready for cooking

Step III: Soak chana dal
Place the strainer with the rinsed chana dal back into the empty bowl and add cold tap water to cover the chana dal with 2 – 3 inches of water. Let the chana dal soak at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.  Then remove the strainer with the dal from the water in which it was soaking. Discard the water.

Step IV: Add water, baking soda and cook
Place the chana dal that has been soaked and drained into a large pot, and add 6 cups of cold tap water to the pot. Add the baking soda and mix it around with a large spoon.

Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat down to gentle boil (almost a simmer). Gently boil for 10-12 minutes, uncovered, or until the chana dal is cooked through but not mushy.  Note: While cooking the chana dal and water mixture will froth quite a bit, but that’s OK.

Chana dal cooking – lots of froth at first

Chana dal cooking – less froth later

Yeild: About 8 cups cooked chana dal and some liquid you can use in cooking or making soups.

Storage: Store your cooked chana dal in your refrigerator or in freezer.

Why baking soda?
Adding some baking soda when cooking beans or dal (split beans) is traditional in many South Asian recipes. It helps soften the bean/dal in less time than it would take without the baking soda. In my experience, the baking soda cuts the cooking time in half.

Recipes for chana dal: 

Chana dal purée for use in lots of different recipes. I love this recipe and since posting it to my blog, I’ve used it over and over. These days I freeze the chana dal puree in silicon muffin pans and then pop the frozen muffins out and into a freezer bag. Very nice way to add a little chana dal to this or that recipe, as needed!

My Pinterest collection of dal recipes — includes some with chana dal. And you can adapt the others to include chana dal!

Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni

No-Name-Yet Healthy Mushrooms (Curry; Miso)

My first attempt to make sauteed mushrooms with mostly turmeric for flavor, was real flop, and it has now been removed from this blog — which is why you won’t find it on this page any more.

Instead, let me suggest sauteeing the mushrooms in olive oil and some Sweet Curry Powder (which is not sweet, just not very hot). I chose Penzeys Spices Sweet Curry Powder because the first ingredient is turmeric and it also contains black pepper, but of course, you could add more black pepper to taste.

While using Sweet Curry Powder instead of turmeric doesn’t provide as much turmeric as if you used mostly turmeric, it tastes a LOT better!

But curried mushrooms do not go with everything…so I started to think again about what I could do to make a great sauteed mushroom dish that would go with most foods…and I came up with sauteed mushrooms and miso! It’s really good.  I don’t have the proportions down yet…but it’s something like 8 ounces of sliced baby portobello mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil. Then before the mushrooms are fully cooked, pour into the pan a mixture of about 1/2 cup water and a tablespoon miso. Cool until the liquid evaporates and the miso has lightly coated the mushrooms.

Miso.  The darker the miso, the stronger the flavor. Try it you’ll like it!

Ingredients for sauted mushrooms with curry seasoning

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large white  onion, diced (approximately 1/3-inch dice)

• How to dice an onion (a short video)

2 1/2 teaspoons Penzeys Spice Sweet Curry Powder

freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1, 8-0unce box  baby bello mushrooms , sliced (baby bello are baby portobello mushrooms)

pinch of hot red pepper (Note: Use a spoon, not your fingers to avoid possibly burning yourself when you touch your fingers to your eyes.)

salt, to taste, if desired

Optional additions to mix in

1  Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cube I think this works quite well. Just mix a defrosted Garlic Flavor Cube in at the end so that the garlic won’t burn. I took a small (about 1/3-inch high cube) and defrosted it in the microwave and then added it to the cooked mixture of onions and mushrooms. It made the mixture a bit less grainy and more mellow. Very nice.

• Note: If you are defrosting a small amount of food such as a Garlic Flavor Cube in your microwave, it’s a good idea to add something else to the microwave at the same time so that the microwaves have more food to work with. I just keep a half cup of water handy by the microwave and use it over and over for this purpose, as needed.

A squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice  –  I added a 1/2 teaspoon lime juice after adding the Garlic Flavor Cube. I think I’ll add more next time because it was very nice.

Optional garnish to add on

fresh chopped cilantro (Of course, if you love cilantro, add a touch of green!)

Directions

Heat the olive oil (1 tablespoon) over medium heat in a large (10-inch), heavy non-stick skillet. When hot, add the onions and saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the onions start to become translucent but still have crunch to them (about 8 minutes), add in the curry powder and black pepper; stir to mix; continue to cook over medium heat for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly. (This helps the spices mix and develops their flavor and it prevents the turmeric from tasting awful as it does – at least to me – when it’s raw/uncooked!).  Add a little oil or a little water, if needed, to keep the spices from burning. Remove the onion mixture from the pan and set aside.

Add the second tablespoon of olive oil to the pan (the pan from which you just removed the onions.) When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms. Stir to mix and continue cooking and stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until some of the mushrooms get a little brown at the edges.

Now add the onion mixture to the mushrooms in the pan. Add a pinch of hot red pepper and salt, to taste, if desired. Mix well and continue cooking, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.

How to use this versatile recipe

Add a few spoons on top of chicken, fish, tofu, eggs, and assorted grains. Mix some into greens and other veggies.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni