At this moment in time, I’m happily married to the man of my dreams — who with much love prepared for me Chana Dal Pulao on a lazy, Sunday afternoon. A conventional Punjabi Recipe, simple and flavoursome.
Post a long vacation in Singapore, he offered to make me lunch, about five years after we got married. I was taken aback by surprise. The man who only enters kitchen trailing the aroma of good food, talking about cooking lunch. To many of you, it may sound no out of the box story. But for a woman who waited from the first day of marriage for this moment, it was surely an exceptional day. And around then is when he, cheerful and enthusiastic than ever, walked through the kitchen door. I was already on cloud nine. There were butterflies in my stomach like I had on the day of our first date. But that was not the end of panic and pangs. For someone, who never stirred even a pot of milk, cooking main-course meal seems like an uphill task.
After few rounds of serious discussions on the menu, he zeroed down to Chana Dal Pulao with Raita. And his kind mother guided him through the entire process over a phone call. So sweet of her too! We cherished those moments in the kitchen together. As I watched him chopping the onions like a novice cook and struggling with the dilemma of recognising the spices, my mind was constantly pondering. Why the males in our society are little shy, a little introvertish, in expressing their love uniquely through food.
Why cooking for the lady in life is such a taboo for most of the male spouses. Once in a while, similar sweet gestures can express more than three words. Coming back to Chana Dal Pulao, it came out fantastic as you could notice in the images. So here is the recipe for you. Learn how to make Chana Dal Pulao in few simple steps:
Chana Dal Pulao is a conventional Punjabi Recipe, simple and flavoursome. Serve Chana Dal Pulao with raita and salad for a complete meal.
- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 cup channa dal
- 2 medium-size onion fine chopped
- 2 green chillies finely chopped
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp Garam Masala see recipe
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp oil
- To make Chana Dal Pulao, first wash and soak rice for 30 minutes. Similarly clean, wash and soak bengal gram in water for at least 1 hour.
- Next heat oil in pressure cooker over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and saute for few seconds. Add the chopped onion, green chilies and saute till the onion turn golden brown in color.
- Add salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala and saute once again for few seconds.
- Now drain the soaked Bengal gram dal and add it in the pressure cooker along with 1 Cup of water.
- Pressure cook the dal for two whistles over medium heat. Turn off the heat. Let the steam release naturally from the pressure cooker.
- Open the lid, add the soaked rice without water and stir to combine.
- Now add enough water in the pressure cooker to cook the rice.
- Reduce the heat to low and let the rice cook over slow heat.
- Turn off the heat and cover the pressure cooker with a lid. Let the pulao sit in this mode for 5 - 10 minutes.
- Open the lid of the pressure cooker and fluff the rice with a fork or spoon.
Recommended Equipment: Pressure Cooker ( buy it here )
1 comment
nice briyani