Back with Dal Bukhara & Tandoori Roti

Feels good to be back here after a fortnight in India, centered around family, friends, festivities, fun and food , and lots of each!

On the food front, it was wonderful to confidently stride into any eating joint, without first pondering if they have vegetarian options. Infact, I actually had a vegetarian hot dog at a little kiosk in one of the nouveau dilli malls!!

Just like every time, I also had my fill of Dal Bukhara(DB) and Chole Bhature(CB), food that Delhi does better than anywhere else in the world. Anyone who shares my fondness for CB, drop me a line and I will be happy to share my favourite CB haunts:)

As for DB, while there are many worthy contenders, who may at times even surpass the original, for a predictably good kali dal, there is only one mecca, even if dal bukhara is pretty much all vegetarians like me can order there:(

After dozens of trials, and not quite there experiments, I am happy to report a recipe that in my admittedly biased opinion is nearly there.Have it with whole wheat, home made tandoori rotis, and you have a hearty, delicious meal.

Update:

If dal bukhara and makhni leave you confused, read what someone who has run through quite a few of them has to say

Dal Bukhara

This is one recipe that gives you a real bang for your butter, with just 2 tsp cream and 1 tbsp butter ( and yes.. that includes the butter & cream garnish on the dal!)
a little more than ¾ cup whole urad

a little less than¼ cup rajma

(Basically 1 katori together of which approxiamately 80% is urad and 20% is rajma).
2 small/1 large tomato pureed with an optional green chilli

paste of 8 cloves of garlic and a one inch knob of ginger
½ cup of readymade tomato puree ( I used Hunt's)
1 tbsp( 3tsp) unsalted butter
½ cup of milk
2 tsp cream
½ tsp Cumin, 4 cloves, 1 bayleaf, 1 inch cinnamon

salt, chili powder to taste

Update:

I was strongly advised against soaking this dal overnight as that makes the texture completely different after cooking and so , I have always made this dal after soaking in warm water for 2 hours at best, or at times even without pre-soaking and it has worked. But some pressure cookers do not cook this dal thoroughly without soaking for 2 to 3 hours, so do adjust according to your experience with your cooker.

Boil urad and rajma together in a pressure cooker with 4 cups of water.In my old style hawkins cooker, it takes around 20 minutes on medium low flame, after the first whistle. Meanwhile, heat together 2 tsp oil and 2 tsp butter, add cumin, whole masala. Once it pops, add ginger garlic paste, fry till aromatic, then add fresh tomato puree. Cook it till all the juice evaporates and the tomato mixture thickens .

Now add ready made puree and cook for a few minutes before adding around half a cup of water. Let it cook some more till specks of oil can be seen on the top. If you have used as little oil as I do, you may not really see oil floating on the top, but it is cooked when it looks something like this:

Add the powdered spices and mix well. The dal will also be probably cooked by now, the grains soft but not totally mush.

Add the tomato mix to the cooker along with 1 cup of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Might need some more water if it turns too thick, too soon.Add milk and 1tsp cream, and cook till nice and thick. Garnish with remaining cream and butter.

Tandoori Roti

These short cut tandoori rotis were taught to me by our cook, Khem Singh, who in turn learned it during his stint at a small 4 star hotel, renowned for its great food. This was also his strategy to use up leftover atta dough that was not quite ideal for phulkas but was still not bad enough to be discarded. This is precisely what I used as well, atta that had been languishing in the refrigerator for two days.

For Tandoori Roti, use atta kneaded with just plain water, without any salt, or oil.Before making rotis, leave it outside the refrigerator for about 2 to 3 hours, if in a warm area like Singapore ( 30C or so), else adjust accordingly. Apparently, this makes the dough rise a bit, although I could not detect any visible change.

Now take a largish ball of dough (slightly smaller than a tennis ball) and roll out using wet hands on a kitchen slab or rolling board, or simply clap it between your hands.I did a bit of both. You may have to moisten your hands a few times to ensure that the roti does not stick to your hands. It does not really matter if the roti is not perfectly round, I gave up on that years back.

Have a frying pan handy, and keep it upside down on the gas flame for a few minutes. Slap the roti carefully on the bottom of the pan so that it sticks, and now keep it back on the flame upside down, like so:

Once the underside is cooked, (which should only take two to three minutes, but really depends on how strong your flame is) hold the pan over the flame, right side up so that the flames are almost touching the top of the roti. If everything has gone well, the top of the roti should rise slightly to form a nice, crisp crust, which cracks when tapped.

Pat a tiny bit of butter or ghee on the roti, if you like

Dal Bukhara goes as my entry to two great events where I am participating for the first time, Legume Love Affair concieved by Susan and hosted by Sra, and..

FIC Brown, concieved and hosted by Sunshine Mom