Chanay ki Daal Gosht / Chana Dal with Meat

It was a well known fact that I hated Cholar Dal / Bengali Chana Dal. We cook them in ghee with whole garam masalas, coconut, cashews and raisins. The golden raisins sautéed and puffed up in ghee is a serious eat. This sweet chana dal is generally eaten with luchi / puris.

But have you ever considered adding garlic to this chana dal?? I did a couple of times and they came out beautiful. Very different from the version we usually eat. I know some people who can die for that Bengali sweet Chana Dal...but seriously I am not a follower of that crowd. I like my luchis more with Dum Aloo than with Chana Dal.

Heat the ghee and temper it with cinnamon stik, green cardamoms, cloves and bay leaves. Saute for half a minute.

Add the mutton pieces.

Sprinkle some salt and saute the mutton pieces until the change their colour.

Add the onions, tomatoes and ginger - garlic paste.

Add all the spices except the garam masala powder.

Add 1 cup of water and cook on pressure until the cooker blows 4 whistles.

Once done, simmer the curry until a smooth gravy is formed and oil starts to seperate.

Now add the washed and soaked chana dal.

Again cook on pressure until the cooker blows 4-6 whistles or the mutton is all cooked and soft.

Finally when the mutton is all cooked simmer the curry until the desired conistency is reached. Finish off with garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves.

Cooking meat with lentils was a very new thing that I learned watching some Pakistani Cookery videos in youtube. But then I forgot and was busy making that garlicky version. It all came back to me while I read a recipe of mutton curry cooked with Toor dal and then in another Bengali cookbook the writer wrote that apart from the Fish head moong dal can also be cooked with chicken or mutton or even with miced meat. Now all these are too much for me....so I had had to make some lentils with meat, and also I had half kg mutton left in my freezer which needed to be used soon. I don’t like my food to be left out in the freezer for months. For me the fresher we eat the better.

But destiny had some issues with me. The day I decided to cook the lentils with meat I found out that my toor dal and moong dal are almost finished. So even though I very much wanted to make the Toor dal with meat, I ended up making the Chana Dal with Meat. This recipe is adapted from Youtube’s Faiza’s recipe and I am liking it a lot!!! Needless to say that I will obviously experiment with lentils and meat more than I had actually thought of!!

Chanay ki Dal Gosht / Mutton Curry with Chana Dal

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

½ kg boneless mutton pieces

2 medium onions – sliced

2 medium tomatoes – chopped

7-8 fat garlic cloves – minced

1 tbsp ginger paste

2 tsp turmeric powder

3-4 tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1-2 tsp garam masala powder

2 medium cinnamon stick

4 green cardamoms

3-4 cloves

2 medium bay leaves

A handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves

Salt

½ cup ghee

Method:

Wash and soak the chana dal overnight.

In a pressure cooker heat the ghee and temper it with cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms, cloves and bay leaves.

Sauté them for half a minute and add the boneless mutton pieces to them.

Sprinkle some salt over them and sauté the mutton pieces until they become lightly browned.

Now add the sliced onions, chopped tomatoes and ginger garlic paste.

Also sprinkle the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder.

Mix in and add in 1 cup of water.

Put on the lid and cook the mutton on pressure until the cooker blows 4 whistles.

Let the steam come out on its own and then uncover the lid.

Simmer the curry on medium heat until the gravy is nice and smooth and the oil has started to ooze out.

At this point add in the washed and soaked chana dal to the mutton curry with another 1 and ½ cup of water.

Mix them in and again put them on pressure until the cooker blows another 4-6 whistles. (You can cook the chana dal separately and then mix the cooked mutton and cooked chana dal. Then simmer them for 5 minutes more and serve hot. But cooking them together gives the dish a lot more flavour but it will cost you a lot more time.)

Put off the lid when all the steam from inside has been vented.

Put the curry on simmer again and cook until the gravy reaches your desired consistency.

You can mash up the chana dal in the curry but I don’t do that.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Finally sprinkle the garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves over them.

Serve hot with naan / paratha / roti with a drizzle of lime juice over them.