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Easy Chana Dal Recipe. Split chickpeas make a smooth nutty soup. Flavored with roasted cumin tempering. Make it in an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker or a Sauepan. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe
This easy chana dal makes a fabulous weekday meal. Chana Dal are brown chickpeas that have been split and skinned/polished. They have the same earthy nutty flavor profile as brown chickpeas(which are also called bengal gram, Kala chana in Hindi). You can use split yellow peas or split pigeon peas to make this recipe as well.
Chana Dal has a great texture and flavor and is available online at Bob’s Red mill or anywhere where you can find bob’s red mill legumes or amazon(Chana Dal (Split Desi Chickpeas)
The dal is cooked to al dente, then cooked further with the flavoring ingredients like tomato, garlic, ginger and spices and then finished off with a toasty tempering of cumin seeds. Simple and delicious!
Serve the dal with flatbreads or rice or cooked grains and cooked or raw sliced veggies on the side.
Chana Dal beans look like split peas, but they are textured and not smooth on the outer side. Chana dal is often used in Northern Indian dals and used in southern Indian cooking in tempering, chutneys and sauces.
More Dals/Dahls from the blog
- Dal Makhani
- Kashmiri Dal – Split Pea & Yellow Lentil Soup
- Curried Chickpea stuffed Acorn Squash
- Dal Baati – Pigeon Pea Soup.
- Chickpea Sundal – Spiced Chickpea Coconut Salad.
Seattle and surrounding area people: There will be a march on April 25 at 2 pm through the University of Washington to protest the new animal lab.
Countries are banning animal testing, and major universities shrinking their animal research and the UW is actually planning to build a brand new expanded animal laboratory underground. Just this month, the acting UW President admitted to a NARN Board member that she had never even toured the current laboratories, (which have been cited numerous times for animal mistreatment). Please join in to be the voice for the animals that might end up tortured in this lab.
Also, Tweet storm today to keep the pressure on the city to send elephants Bamboo and Chai to sanctuary instead of another zoo. TweetSheet: https://www.freewpzelephants.org/docs/Tweet_Sheet.pdf
I will be giving away a few spice tiffins(masala dabba – pictured below) at the book launch! So keep an eye on the posts in May.
Did I mention that there are 25+ Dals in the book. 🙂 Legume love!
Video:
Easy Chana Dal Recipe. Split Chickpea Soup
Ingredients
Dal:
- 1/2 cup chana dal - split chickpeas, or use split peas
- 2 cups water
- 1 large tomato
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/3 to 1/2 tsp salt
To temper:
- 1/2 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- a generous pinch of asafetida hing
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Soak the dal for 1 hour to overnight. Drain and combine with 2 cups water in a saucepan. Cover and cook for 20 to 25 minutes over medium heat. Open the lid a crack if the water threatens to boil over.
- Meanwhile, blend the tomato, garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, paprika and cayenne with 1/2 cup of water until smooth.
- Add the tomato mixture and salt to the cooking split peas. Cover and cook for another 15 minutes or until the split peas are tender. Mash some of the split peas and continue to simmer until desired tenderness and consistency.
- Make the tempering: Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and cook until they change color. half to 1 minute. Add in the asafetida. Add half of this tempering, garam masala, cayenne to the simmering dal and mix in. Taste and adjust salt and spice. Take off heat, add cilantro and mix in. garnish with the remaining tempering and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
YUM! I definitely want to try this!
Hi Richa, thanks for this recipe — and thanks for including the pressure cooker directions — I just got an Instant Pot on your recommendation in a recent post! And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pot! I was worried it wouldn’t work out for me and would end up in the “appliance graveyard,” but it’s wonderful. So far I’ve made perfect brown rice, wonderful polenta, and J.L. Fields’ black-eyed pea and collard green chili — and I’ve only had the cooker a couple of days. Next I’m going to make this dal! I just can’t say enough positive things about the Instant Pot; thank you SO much for mentioning it. It’s going to make cooking after work so much more do-able. I’ll be on the lookout for any more pressure cooker recipes/tips you feel like sharing. And I can’t wait till your book comes.
Thanks also for the info about the lab and the elephants. It’s hard to believe a large new lab would be built at this point in time — I’d hoped we were all becoming more enlightened than that. I wish I lived out West so I could go to the rally/march to protest. Ugh.
This looks so good! Like, a healthy, indian, baked bean recipe!
I love your recipes! And in this case I also love the little bowls! Where are they from?
you can get them at the larger indian stores like in new york or online on patelbrothers.com or amazon. i will be giving away a few bowls at the book launch too!
LOL, I’m having roti and naan tonight for dinner! Gotta make the curry now 😉
Can I do this using whole chana dahl? I bought too big a bag by mistake.
I am not sure what you got. If its whole, then it wont be called chana dal. It would be called just chana. how does it look like. what does the bag say about cooking time?
if it is whole chana(brown chickpeas), you will have to cook it about 25-minutes in the pressure cooker
This is a tasty recipe! I know the recipes in your book will be just as yummy! =)
I did research in a university, and from personal experience, some rats and mice do feel pain while being euthanized because every drug and every mammal is different…Luckily, I wasn’t the one who made the incisions, but it is still wrong. Every institution follows different protocols and sometimes do not have enough funds to pay for effective drugs. I wish there were better regulations or another way to conduct such studies…
This is a bigger lab with primates, mice, pigs, rabbits, cats and other animals. they are tripling the size of the current primate lab. UW’s Labs have had fines for mistreatment of and deaths of the animals. https://nonewanimallab.com/about/uw-animal-research-care-facility/
I hope all the pressure will make them reconsider. the baby monkeys 🙁
I want to make this! I love yellow split peas and this will give me another option for making them. Thanks!
I will start making all those delicious dals. I love beans and your recipes look delicious. I was searching for a khesari recipe, but didn’t find. Do you use it?
Great! No i dont use Khesari Dal. Khesari dal or grass pea is ok to eat infrequently, but should not be eaten too often.
Kesari also is a name of a dessert which is made with semolina and saffron. Not sure if you were looking for one or the other.
Yes Dal. I know contains a neurotoxine and should be rarely consumed, but I was curious how is prepared. It’s not important now that you mention the kesari dessert. 😀
🙂 i havent tried the dal yet. it might work in any dal recipe. just adjust cooking time.
Thanks! I made this recipe and my tastes buds were completely satisfied 🙂 I served with a bowl of rice to make a complete meal. All those dals are just my kind of food, mushy and nutritious and delicious. Can’t wait to read your book, too!
Awesome! so glad you liked it!
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Banaras-Hindu-University-study-debunks-khesari-dal-perception/articleshow/28581641.cms
I purchased chana dal from my local Indian market…I soaked according to your instructions and proceed to make receive, to my DISMAY, 3 hours passed and the beans were STILL hard??? Do you know why?…also, I just left them prepared overnight in my fridge; am attempting to cook again today _ IF you can’t help, will I have to throw out?
hi Ivette, sometimes the beans are too old and they take too long to cook. This is a frequent problem with split peas (yellow or green) and split chickpea (chana dal). if you have a pressure cooker, they will cook quickly in the pressure cooker. if not, Just add more water, cover and continue to cook in a saucepan until they get tender. if they are already slightly tender, you can blend them up and cook for a bit and serve as pureed soup. don’t throw them yet.
Great answer and thank you for your kind advice. Worked perfectly for me.
That was banned due to a suspected neurological disorder associated with this Khesari dal. It was later reversed I believe for use for feeding animals. Why would you wamt to use this over Channa dal?
Ok, I want this right now!!! Do you deliver? 😉