Today is Vakbaras and the Diwali marathon has officially kicked off in my kitchen! Since I favour farsaan (namkeen/karam whatever) over mithai just a little bit, the first one in the Diwali series is a farsaan – fried chana dal.
I’ll let the picture do the rest of the talking and give you the recipe. The source of course is mommy dearest.
For fried chana dal you’ll need
- 250 gms chana dal
- Oil for deep frying
- Curry leaves (5-6 stalks)
For the masala
- Chilly powder
- Salt
- Rock Salt
- Hing (Asafoetida)
- Soak the chana dal over night or for 6-8 hours in sufficient water (add more than double the volume of dal). Mix all the masala ingredients in desired proportions to prepare the masala for sprinking.
- Take a heavy thick bottomed kadhai and heat oil for deep frying. Meanwhile, take a big kitchen towel and spread out fistfuls of chana dal on the towel. The dal doesn’t have to be dry. This is just to make sure it isn’t dripping with water.
- Check if the oil is smoking hot. Turn the flame to simmer, take a fistful of dal and drop it gently from about 2-3 inches above the oil level. You’ll be able to fit in about 2-3 fistfuls in one batch, depending on the kadhai size and ofcourse the size of your fist. If you don’t have any prior experience in deep frying, please get someone experienced do the frying for you.
- You’ll see lots of bubbles form as you drop the dal. Till the bubbles settle down, don’t put the slotted spoon in the oil at all. Fry the dal on medium high or high till the bubbles settle down. The colour of the dal should *not* change to pink or red. Before you fry the next batch, wait till the oil is smoking hot again. This is very crucial, otherwise the dal becomes hard to bite.
- After frying each batch, add the required amount of masala immediately. This helps the masala stick to the dal easily.
- Finally, fry the curry leaves and mix them with the chana dal.
You can have the chana dal as a snack or you can make a chat or bhel by adding finely chopped onions, tomatoes, green chillies, lemon juice, coriander leaves etc. to the chana dal.
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