Baked Rasgulla / Baked Rassogolla

My today’s recipe is not for those friends who keep track of their calories intake every day; rather this one is dedicated to my friends who wait for the desserts and ready to skip even the main dishes. This delicious dessert has power to break determination of the first category though J. It originates from the land of sweets, our own Bengal. Though Bengal is known for its traditional sweets, in recent years, renowned sweet shops in Kolkata have innovated different fusion sweets. These still may be made of Chhena and Sugar but taste completely different from one to another. Sometimes they add new flavors to the traditional sweets and give them new dimensions. They are making fusions using western desserts like Ice-cream, cake, tart and mixing them to Indian stuff. Ice-cream Sondesh, Sondesh cake, Mihi Dana Tart or Nolen Gur-r ice-cream are common in Kolkata nowadays and are very highly appreciated too. If you haven’t tasted yet, visit these reputed shops of Kolkata whenever you get a chance next time - Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, Bancharam, Gupta Brothers or Sen Mashai.

Today I am going to share one of these fusion sweets called Baked Rasogolla that is new form of traditional Rasogolla or Ras Malai. I made this first time and never tasted this sweet before. But I discussed about this new sweet many times with friends who already had or made it. It is nothing but traditional Rasogolla that is baked in conventional oven with spread of Malai. It has got the touch burnt flavor but tastes delicious at the same time. You can use ready-made canned Rasogolla to start with. I have reused the Rasogollas which I made last month and some remained in the freeze. After I made my mind to prepare this dessert, I started checking recipes everywhere on net. Went through all the versions and got an overall idea. But at the end, couldn’t follow any specific one, instead made my own. So here is my humble attempt of making a fusion Bengali sweets called Baked Rasogolla. Hope you would love it.

Recipe of Baked Rasgulla : Serves 5 to 6

Ingredients :

Rasgullas : 10 pieces
Milk : 1 liter 
Condensed milk : 1 can 
Indian Cottage Cheese /  Paneer : 1/2 cup 
Saffron : few strands 
Cardamom Powder : 1/4 teaspoon 

Method :

1. Gently squeeze out the sugar syrup from Rasgullas . Now soak the rasgullas in bowl of water for few minutes. Again carefully squeeze them and keep it aside. 

2. Take a heavy bottomed pan, add the milk and let it boil over low flame until it becomes thick and the quantity becomes half of it. Stir it occasionally to prevent burning at bottom. 

3. Take a small bowl add the saffron strands and 2-3 tablespoons warm milk to it. Set it aside. 

4. Switch off the gas and let it cool down. Add the condensed milk and stir it. Add the paneer, cardamom powder to the milk and mix it well. 

5. Now take this mixture in a blender and make it a smooth paste. 

6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees For 200 degrees C. Take a baking dish, arrange the Rasgullas and spread the mixture over it. Spread the saffron soaked milk over the mixture. Bake it until the top starts to brown. 

7. Baked Rasgullas are ready serve warm or cold. 

 

Related Posts : 

Rasogolla / Rasgulla

Malai Sandesh

Rasmalai

Angoori Rasmalai / Indrani

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Chanchra ( Kumro - Pui Shaak r Chanchra ) / Bengali Mishmash

Hope all my San Diego friends are doing fine in the midst of this scary hot and wild summer. Things have calmed down a bit after last two day’s fire and smoke all over the place. Wish it doesn’t come back in near future. I captured the pictures of my new post a few days back but couldn’t concentrate to write down the recipe. Also since this is the last month before summer vacation of my son’s school, we were busy with many field trip events. I usually try to post one recipe each week. If I skip one week, then it becomes a bit difficult to get back to the old track. 

Anyway, today I am going to share a Bengali recipe, so my non-bengali friends have to bear with several Bengali terms. The name of today’s dish is Chanchra / Kumro-Pui Shaak r Chanchra. Kumro means pumpkin and pui shak is commonly known as Vine Spinach. Its scientific name is Basella Alba. The other names of this category of spinach are red vine spinach, climbing spinach, creeping spinach and malabar spinach. Bengalis named this spinach Pui , puin or pohi. It is an edible vine, generally found in tropical Asia and Africa, where it is widely used as a leaf vegetable.  “Chanchra” is the word to describe the cooking style. It's a semi-dry curry, a medley of vegetables and green leaves that are cooked at low flame with minimum spices. It is widely popular as a side dish at any feast especially during lunch in any Bengali wedding ceremony.  I can still remember that in our childhoods, we used to eagerly wait for this dish while attending any Bengali Marriage. Things might have changed today when lunch/dinner menus in Bengali marriage are largely influenced by foods/cultures from other communities.

 The "Chanchra" is generally cooked with leafy vegetables, along with pumpkin, potato and with eggplants and few other vegetables. If you don't get malabar spinach, it's fine. Normal spinach or any other leafy vegetables ( shak ) will work here. You can make this dish in complete vegetarian way too with no fish head. But most of the time we add the fish head of hilsa, Rohu or katla and it tastes awesome. Here since we don't get these fishes regularly,  so it's not a common dish in my kitchen.

Fortunately last week we got Hilsha fish from local grocery shop here. So I didn't miss the chance to have some chanchra after a long time. I was not big vegetable lovers in my younger days, but as we grow old, being forced to change eating habits. This is a good healthy choice for the people who wants to add more fiber to their diet. 

The recipe is very simple. Even though it's a traditional dish, it still varies and from one home to another. I follow the way it used to be cooked at my home.  

Recipe of Pumpkin and Vine Spinach or Spinachwith Fish head ( chanchra / Kumro - Pui Shak r Chanchra ) : serves 4 to 5 

Ingredients :

Vine Spinach / Malabar spinach / Pohi / Pui Shaak: 3 to 4 cups (leaves along with stems, wash and chop them into 1 inch long pieces ) if you don't get vine spinach, use fresh spinach only
Pumpkin: 1 cup, peeled and cubed 
Potato: a small, peeled and cubed 

Flat beans (optional) : 1 cup, cut into 1-inch pieces 

Eggplant: 2 cups, cut into 1-inch pieces 

Radish: half cup, cut into small pieces 
Fish head: a big one ( preferably of Rahu, Katla or Hilsa fish )
Salt:
Turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon 
Dry Red Chili: 1 or 2 
Panch Phoron(Indian five spices): 1 teaspoon 
Onion: 1 medium sized, finely chopped 
Garlic: 1 tablespoon paste 
Red chili powder: to taste 
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Oil: 5 to 6 tablespoons

Method :

1. Wash and clean the fish head and sprinkle salt and turmeric on it. Rub it well and let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes. 

2. Heat oil in a wok, once oil is ready add the fish head. Fry it until the color changes to light brown on all sides. Once it is done, drain it and set it aside. 

3.  Add red dry red chili and panch phoron to the same oil. Once it starts to spatter, add the chopped onion. Saute it till it is soft and add the garlic paste. 

4. Stir it until raw smell goes off, add the cubed potato, chopped radish, and flat beans. Keep stirring and mix well everything together. Add coriander powder and red chili powder. 

5. Add pumpkin and eggplants. Stir it. Soon the vegetables will get well coated with spice and oil will start to separate from the spices. Add the fired fish head to the wok. Mix in and break the fish head into pieces with spatula. Add the spinach. Give some good stirs to mix it. Add salt and cover the wok with lid. 

6. Let it cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, the spinach and vegetable will release a lot of water and it will be cooked by that. Stir it occasionally to prevent burning at bottom. 

7. Once vegetables are well cooked and water dries up, and when oil separates and starts to leave from all the sides of the wok, check the seasoning. Serve hot with steamed rice. 

Note: You can cook the same dish without the fish head ( this is the vegetarian version ), or you can add a cup of shrimp, in the place of the fish head. 

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Chicken Croquettes ( Bengali Style Chicken Chop )

For long time I had a dream to spend a weekend in an ocean side resort and enjoy with my family. Finally my husband gave me a surprise on president’s day long weekend and we went to a resort in a place called Palos Verdes near Los Angeles. After spending those pampering days, when we came back on Monday and we had a get together with some family friends at our residence. This time I cooked some new stuffs and taken photographs but there were no time to write the recipe and share with you. 

 

Starting this week I am slowly coming back to my old routine and hope would be able to maintain the pace. Today I am going to share a yummy snack, a popular street food of Calcutta and eastern part of India. If you visit the city, you would find hundreds of road-side vendors are selling this kind of snack. The formal name of this dish is Chicken Croquettes, commonly known as Chicken chop or chicken cutlet. The word Croquette has come from the French word "Croquer" that means to crunch.

Croquette is a small deep fried food that usually contains mashed potatoes or ground meet (goat, beef, chicken or turkey), fish, cheese or vegetables as filling. The Croquette is usually shaped like a cylinder, disk or oval shape.First dip the filling in egg wash, roll in bread crumbs and finally deep fry in hot oil. If you want to avoid deep-frying, you can bake them too at oven. The Bengali version can be of different types, both veg and non-veg. Potatoes, mixed vegetables, banana flowers are very commonly used as a filling when it is vegetarian. On the other hand fish (macher chop), minced mutton (mansher Chop) are very popular as non-vegetarian croquettes. Whether it’s veg or non-veg, each variety of croquettes has a distinctive taste and texture. Once they are cooked, become quite crispy on the outside but remains soft inside, very tempting as an appetizer or a party snack. Generally it is served with tomato ketchup or with your choice of dip and with onion rings and some salads. 

Recipe of Chicken Croquettes ( Bengali Style Chicken Chop ) : for 10 pieces 

Ingredients : 

Boneless Chicken breast : 1 lb / 500 g ( boiled and shredded )

Onion : a big one, finely chopped 

Ginger paste : 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste : 1 tablespoon

Tomato : a small one chopped 

Green chilies : as per tolerance (if you want to avoid green chilies, you can use black pepper powder or red chili powder.)

Coriander powder : 1 teaspoon 

Potato : 1 medium sized, boiled 

Green Cardamom : 2 

Cinnamon stick : 1 inch

Cloves : 2 

Salt : 

Egg : 1

Breadcrumbs : 1 cup 

Oil : for deep frying 

Method :

1. Take a big pan, heat it up and add 2-3 tablespoon oil. Once oil is hot, add cardamoms, cinnamon stick, cloves to it. Once they are fragrant, discard them from oil.

2. Add the chopped onion to the pan, saute it till it changes the color to light brown, add ginger and garlic. Stir it, cook until the raw smell goes off. Add the chopped tomato to the pan, sprinkle some salt. Cook it till the tomato becomes soft and smashed. 

3. Add coriander powder and green chilies. Stir it and mix it, till oil starts separating from the sides of the pan.

4. Add the boiled and shredded chicken. Mix it nicely with the spices and keep stirring for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the potato, smashed it with a spatula and mix well with chicken-spice mixture. 

5. Give some stirs, until the mixture is well combined. Check the seasoning, add salt or chilies if needed. Turn off the gas, now filling is ready. 

6. Divide the mixture into 10 equal balls, give them shape like a cylinder, disk or oval. 

7. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 2 tablespoon of water and on an another flat dish, spread the breadcrumbs. 

8. Take a ball first dip into the egg mixture, then roll it on the breadcrumbs until it gets a nice coat all over it. Do the same process for the rest of the balls. 

9. Now take a deep frying pan, add oil and heat it up. Once oil is ready, deep fry the balls in two batches on medium-high heat until they are evenly golden brown on both sides. 

10. Take out them from oil and place it on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Chicken Croquettes ( Bengali Style Chicken Chop) are ready to serve. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or with your choice of dip and with onion rings and some salads. 

Note :

 If you want to avoid deep frying, you can bake them too. To bake the Chicken Croquette after 8th step, take a baking sheet, grease it with non stick spray. Place the Chicken balls on it and nicely spray with non stick spray. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees C, bake them until they are evenly golden brown on both sides. In between check it, turn the other side and again spray lightly with non stick cooking spray. It takes approximately 5 to 7 minutes for each side to be done. To see the baking process in detail you can check this recipe too ( Baked Tuna Cutlet )

The same recipe, you can try with minced goat meat, or beef or lamb. 

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Rui Posto : Fish with Poppy Seed Paste

Though Thanksgiving is round the corner and people may be searching for some delicious Turkey dishes, I am sharing a little uncommon Bengali recipe. It's a combination of Bengali's two favorites - fish and Posto ( poppy seeds ). Today's recipe is called Rui Posto, a fish preparation with Rohu ( a sweet water fish ) and posto. Bengalis' love for posto (or poppy seeds) has no boundaries. You will find many yummy names like jhinge posto, alu posto or onion posto in Bengali cuisine.  Generally all these are veg dishes. Different vegetables like potato (aalu posto), ridge ground (Jihnga posto) or onion are cooked with poppy seeds in different ways. As usual, Bengalis slowly started trying different non-veg dishes with combination of Posto and Fish/Egg/chicken. These delicious preparations go well with hot steamed rice. 

We grew up in a house where we used to have fish twice a day, both in lunch and dinner. Probably this is true about most of the Bengali family. Meat was only the weekend treat or for special occasions. When it comes to regular fish dishes, Rahu or Caatla is our first choice. Hilsa is obviously the most loved one, but it’s not available for daily preparations. These are all river fishes, also called sweet water fishes and very much available in Bengal.

We miss these river fishes in USA, though some Indian / Bangladeshi stores keep the frozen ones. Though we do not eat frozen fishes regularly; once in a while we bring this type of fish and make some of our favorite dishes. So last week when my friends came for dinner, we thought of trying an experimental dish and made this Rui Posto. It’s a very easy recipe with some basic ingredients. If you do not get Rahu, try this recipe with any white fish. Typically we cook any Bengali dish with mustard oil which adds more flavors. If you are not used to mustard oil, you can skip it and use white oil.

Recipe of Rui Posto ( Fish with Poppy Seeds Paste ) : Serves 5 


Ingredients :

Rohu Fish : 10 pieces
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Salt :
Green Chilies : 4 to 5 or as per tolerance 
Nigella seeds ( kalanji / kalo jeera ) : 1/2 tsp 
Onion ( thinly sliced ) : 2 big ( preferably red onion )
Ginger : 1 tbsp ( grated )
Tomato : 1 medium sized ( chopped )
Red chili powder : 1 tsp or as per tolerance 
Poppy seeds : 4 tbsp 
Mustard oil / white oil :  8 to 10 tbsp or as needed 


Method :

1. Clean and wash the fish pieces and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and turmeric, mix it well and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. 

2. Take a blender, add the poppy seeds and 1 or 2 green chilies. Add 1/4 cup of water to it and let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes, then make a paste. Once it is done, set it aside.

3. Take a big pan or a wok, add half of the mustard oil, once oil is smoking hot, lower the flame and fry the fish pieces until they are golden in color on both sides. Once they are done, take it off from oil and set it aside.

4. Add the remaining oil to the wok, let it heat up, once oil is ready add the nigella seeds and slit green chilies.

6. When aroma comes, add the onion and fry it. Add salt and stir it until they are translucent. Add the grated ginger and again give some stirs. 

7. Add turmeric, red chili powder and 2 tbsp of water, stir it and mix it well. When spices are well cooked add the chopped tomato.

8. Add salt, once tomato becomes soft and oil starts to separate from the spice, add the poppy seeds paste.

9. Give some good stirs and add half cup to one cup of warm water and salt. Let it come to a boil, add the fish pieces and cover the pan.

10. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes over medium heat. Take the lid off, check the seasoning and check the desired consistency. Drizzle few drops of mustard oil and add some chopped green chilies. Rui Posto is ready! Serve it with a bowl of steamed rice.

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Rasmalai : Milk Based Dessert with Cheese Dumplings

I am not able to find words to describe today’s dessert. There is no adjective which can narrate the joy and happiness in a Bengali’s mind when you serve him this dessert at the end of the meal. I shouldn’t relate this to only Bengali. Indians from all parts are die-hard fan of this Bengali sweet. It’s the most common name after Rasagulla, in the list of sweet dishes in Indian restaurants. Yes, I am referring to Ras Malai (Rasmalai).

Ras Malai, the name consists of two words, Ras means juicy and Malai means Cream. It is milk-based dessert and made with cheese dumplings in cream syrup. The cottage Cheese dumplings are soaked in sweetened, thickened milk and then are delicately flavored with cardamom and garnished with nuts.

Ras Malai is my personal favorite too. When I was a kid, I didn't like to have dessert much. But this one was the exceptional to me. For some time, I had a plan to post the recipe of an Indian dessert, but did not get an excuse to make it. Since we try to avoid eating desserts, we rarely make sweets nowadays. Last weekend we invited some of my friends to dine with us and it gave us a chance to indulge ourselves too.

I learnt to make Ras Malai quite a while ago and I enjoy cooking this mouthwatering dish once in a year on a special occasion! Every time I would try some variant of the same dish. My readers probably can recall that few months back I posted another kind of Rasmalai recipe called Angoori Rasmalai( click here for angoori rasmalai ). This time I came back here with the basic Ras Malai recipe and hope you will enjoy!

Recipe Of Ras Malai : Milk Based Dessert with Cheese Dumplings : Serves : 8 

Ingredients :

For making Rasgulla:

Whole Milk - 1 1/2 liters 

Lemon juice - a big lime and mix it with 2 tsp of water

All purpose flour - 1/2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Sooji (semolina) - 1/2 tsp

Cardamom powder-1/3 tsp

To make Syrup:

Water -  5 cups

Sugar -   2 cups 

For the Malai: 

Whole Milk - 1 1/2 liters 

Sugar - 5 - 6 tbsp (as per your taste)

Pistachios or any choice of your dry fruits - few (chopped)

Few strands of saffron

Method :

1.     Boil the milk in a pan, stir continuously. Once the milk starts boiling, lower the flame.

2.     Pour the lemon juice. Stir the milk. Once the milk starts curdling and changes into chhana (cottage cheese) and greenish water, remove the pan from heat.

3.     Leave the chhana / cottage cheese in this condition for 5-7 minutes.

4.     Put it over a soft cotton cloth / or a cheese cloth. Let all the water drain away.

5.     Now put this cloth with the cottage cheese under cold running water for 2-3 minutes. This will help to remove the smell of lemon. 

6.     Hang the chhana along with the cloth on the kitchen tap / faucet for 45 minutes to 1 hr.

7.     Now once again squeeze the cloth if there is any extra water. Try to get rid of as much water as possible but note that the chhana(cottage cheese) should not get too dry.

8.     Now put the lump of chhana over flat surface. Add 1/2 tsp semolina, 1/2 tsp flour, 1 tsp sugar, cardamom powder into it.

9.     Knead them nicely together. Press the dough with your palm continuously for about 3-4 minutes. Once you feel dough is oily then you are done.

10.  Now from this dough make some round balls, approximately 16 to 18 rasgulla you can make with that dough. Gently press the balls to flatten them.

11.  Take a big pan with lid. Add water and sugar to boil for some time. After 5 minutes, place the cottage-cheese balls into the syrup carefully. Cover it. Turn your stove on to a medium heat and let it cook.

12.  After 25 minutes, open the lid to check. The rasgulla will be about one and half times of their original size and become spongy too.

13.  Turn off the gas. Now remove the rasgulla from the syrup, gently squeeze out and keep aside.

14.  In another pan, boil the one and half liters of milk at low flame, stir occasionally to prevent it from burning at the bottom. Once it becomes half in quantity, add sugar, add the cheese balls to the pan along with cardamom powder.

15.  Let it simmer for couple of minutes, check the sweetness and turn off the gas. Add the saffron strands to the malai.  Rasmalai is ready!! Serve cold with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios.

Note: Rasmalai is very delicate, you can store it maximum 2 to 3 days, preferably in refrigerator.

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Narkel Naru / Coconut Ladoo / Sweet Coconut Balls

Today I will share a very traditional Bengali Sweet recipe, which all of us used to love in our childhood days. Bengali pujas are not complete without the same. One week before Durga puja, every home in Bengal will start cutting coconut and then grate it to make this sweet. The smell used to bring a nice feeling that Puja is coming. I am talking about Narkel Naru or Coconut Ladoo.

I should have shared this before the festive season, but I couldn’t find time in the middle of preparations for the Puja! I have made more than hundred pieces of Narus this time for both Durga and Laxmi Puja. Several of my friends started asking if I have uploaded the recipe in the blog. I had to make another round of the same to take pictures. The taste is so addictive that my husband couldn’t stop eating before he finishes at least five.

Narkel Naru which is more like Coconut Ladoo in other parts of India is a sweet dish, made from fresh grated coconut, milk and sugar or jaggery. This sweet Coconut balls are soft, chewy and amazingly delicious. There are three kinds of Narkel Narus. One is "Chini r Naru" which is pure white in color and made of sugar and coconut.  No milk will be added to that. Personally I never like these narus! The second one is "Kheer r Narkel Naru". The one I made yesterday, is made of sugar, milk and coconut! This is the most popular type. There is also "Gurer Naru" that is deep brown in shade and made of jaggery. I did not have any jaggery at my pantry and so added brown sugar in the place of white sugar to half of the coconut mixture. I must say that these came out really good and became just like Gurer Naru!

Making Narkel Naru is not a big deal these days because you get ready-made packet of frozen grated coconut. Unlike our mom or grandmother, we have no time to grate a coconut or to use whole milk in making Narus. I use condensed milk and evaporated milk that make the process simplified and cut the cooking time by half. You can complete the entire cooking in 30 minutes! 

Recipe of Narkel Naru / Coconut Ladoo / Sweet Coconut Balls : for 25 pieces 


Ingredients : 

Shredded Coconut : 1 packet / 340 gm / more than 4 cups 

Evaporated Milk : 1 can 

Whole Milk : 2 cups

Condensed Milk : 3/4 cup. ( if you want you can use the full can too )

Sugar or Brown Sugar : half cup or little less or more than half cup, as per the desired sweetness

Green Cardamoms - 2 or 3 ( crushed )

Method :

1. Thaw the coconut, if you use frozen coconut.

2. Take a heavy bottomed pan and add the coconut. Then Stir it on low flame for 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Add the whole milk. Once the coconut and the milk mixture will start bubbling, add the evaporated milk and the condensed milk to the pan. Mix it all together and let it cook on low to medium heat. 

4. Add the sugar and keep stirring till the coconut is cooked. Once the milk almost dries up and the coconut mix comes out clean from the sides of pan add the cardamom. Again give some stirs and check the sweetness.

5. Turn off the gas and let the coconut mixture cool down. Once the mixture is cool enough to handle but still it is warm, make some little balls by rolling between your palms. Store them in an airtight box and refrigerate it or you can keep it out for 2 to 3 days. Enjoy Narkel Narus!

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Bengali Style Cholar Dal ( Lentils with Coconut and Spices )

I am slowly realizing that blogging is not that easy and sometimes can become hectic too. Though I am enjoying this life of blogging, learning new stuffs and receiving feedback every day from readers or my other blogger friends, sometimes it’s too difficult to keep some time left for trying out and writing down new recipes.  For example, I had this one in mind for few days but couldn't concentrate because of day-to-day usual stuff and weekend party, socialism and shopping. On the other hand, generally I don’t like to stay awake till late night and so my working day becomes shorter. Anyway, we have to cope up with this challenge of balancing between our interest and other day-to-day boring stuff.

Last week, on Friday night our dinner menu was Cholar Dal with Luchi. Cholar Daal, whose English name is Split Bengal Gram, is a very popular Bengali dish, especially when it is prepared with coconut. This one is much different from the Daal (lentil soup) we cook every single day. The regular daal is simpler, flavored and tempered with some spices, which Bengalis generally have with rice. But Cholar daal is mostly cooked on special occasions, usually served with Luchi (Indian Puff Bread) or sometimes with Pulao. The humble combination of Cholar daal and Luchi makes any occasion special and you would find many Bengali who would start licking their lips after hearing this phrase.

The recipe is not complicated and flavored with minimum spices. The addition of coconut, other spices like chilies and the seasoning is simply delectable to the palate. Though it is a not sweet dish, still the original dish tastes little sweet. Please note that Cholar daal (Split Bengal Gram) that is also known as Channa dal and Channa Dal and Toor daal (Split Pigeon Peas) both look very similar, but taste-wise they are completely different. Sometimes people get confused between these two. Many recipes are there in Bengali cuisine with Cholar Dal and all are delicious. Will try to share some of them later. 

Try this recipe of channa dal for a change, hope your family will simply love it.

Recipe of Bengali Style Cholar Dal : Split Gram with Coconut and Spices : Yield : 3 servings 

Cholar Dal  / Chana Daal / Bengal Split Gram : 1 cup 

Salt : 

Turmeric : half tsp 

Oil : 2 to 3 tbsp

Asafoetidia (hing ) : a pinch 

Whole Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp 

Dry Whole Red Chilies : 1 or 2 

Bay leaves : 2 

Coconut flakes ( or thinly sliced or chopped )  : a handful 

Cashew nuts ( halved ) : 2 to 3 tbsp 

Golden Raisins : 2 tbsp ( optional )

Grated Ginger or Ginger paste : 1 tbsp 

Cumin powder  : 1 tbsp 

Kasmiri Red chili powder or Red Chili powder : 1/2 tsp or as per tolerance 

Sugar : 

Method :

1. Soak the Chana Dal in water overnight ( at least 2 to 3 hrs )

2.  Boil the Dal, there are two methods, one is pressure cooker method. Another one is sauce pan method.

3. For pressure cooker, rinse dal and put it in the cooker along with enough water, salt and the turmeric powder. The water level should be half of the finger ( 1 cm approximately ) tall above the dal. Cover the lid and let it cook in medium heat until you hear three whistles. Remove from heat, first let it cool down completely, then open the lid.

4. Another process of boiling dal, take a deep sauce pan, rinse dal and put it in the pan with enough water, salt and turmeric. Bring it to boil and then let it simmer until the dal is well cooked. Add more water in the boiling process, if needed.

5.  Once dal becomes soft and well cooked, set it aside.

6. Take a deep pan or wok, heat 2 to 3 tbsp oil. Add asafoetidia, whole cumin seeds,dry whole red chili, bay leaves. 

7. Once they become aromatic and start to splatter, add the coconut. Fry it until they change color to nice golden brown. 

8. Add the the cashew nuts, stir it for 2 minutes, add the raisins. Add ginger paste, cumin powder, red chili powder and 2 tablespoon water. Give some stirs, until oil starts to come up from the sides of pan.

9. Now drop the cooked dal to the pan and stir it nicely. Let it cook for couple of minutes. Add water if needed ( as per your desired consistency ). Add sugar, check the seasoning, add salt if required. 

10. Once done, pour it in the serving bowl, garnish with some fried coconut flakes and roasted cashew nuts. Serve hot with bread or rice. 

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