Dal Pakwan

Ingredients

• 1 cup chana dal (Bengal gram)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2  turmeric (haldi)

• 1 tablespoon ginger finely chopped

• 1 green chili chopped

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon  garam masala

• 1/2 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor)

Seasoning

• 2 tablespoons oil

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

• 6-7 curry leaves

Pakwan (Crisp Puries known as Pakwan):

• 1 cup all purpose flour (maida/plain flour)

• 1/4 cup semolina (sooji)

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

• 2 tablespoon oil

• Approx. 1/3 cup of water

• Oil to fry

Also need tamarind chutney for serving, check the recipe on my website

INSTRUCTIONS

Cooking Dal:

• Wash and soak chana dal for at least 2 hours in 3 cups of water.

• Drain the water and in pressure cooker add dal, 2-1/2 cups of water, salt, turmeric, green chili, and ginger, close the cooker and cook over medium high heat.

• As the pressure cooker starts steaming turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 4 minutes.

• Turn off the heat and wait until steam has stopped before opening the pressure cooker.

• Dal should be soft well-cooked but not mushy. Add black pepper, mango powder and garam masala, mix it well. Dal should be thick in consistency.

Seasoning

• Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.

• Add cumin seeds, after seeds crack add curry leaves stir for few seconds and pour over dal mix it well and set aside. Curry leaves splatter be careful.

Pakwan

• Crisp Puries known as Pakwan: Mix flour, sooji, salt, cumin seeds, and oil. Add enough water to make firm dough. Knead the dough well.

• Set the dough aside and let it sit for at least 15 minutes or longer.

• Divide the dough in 10 equal parts, Roll the dough into about 5-inch diameter. If the dough is sticking to the rolling pin or rolling surface, put couple of drops of oil on the rolling pin and a couple of drops of oil on the surface.

• Prick the rolled dough all over with a fork. This will limit puries from puffing and make them crisp.

• Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. The frying pan should have at about 1 inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put a small piece of dough in the oil. The dough should sizzle and come up slowly.

• Fry 2-3 puries at time until both sides are a light golden-brown.

• Transfer puries over paper towel, it will absorb the extra oil.

• After the puries cool to room temperature they should be crisp. Puries can be stored in airtight container for 1 month.

NOTES

Serve Pakwan with hot dal with drizzle of tamarind chutney.