Rajasthan Special Part II – Dal Bati Churma

As requested by a few readers, here’s another recipe from the beautiful land of Rajasthan-Dal Bati Churma. As you all know, Rajasthan is  a very dry place and so many of their dishes, including this one uses a lot of ghee so probably you’ll have to hit the gym the next morning. But it’s totally justified to indulge our palate and enjoy sometimes ‘Apno Rajasthan ma'(in my own Rajasthan).

This dish has three elements-Dal, Bati (Instead of Bati, I have actually given the recipe for Bafla, a softer version  of original bati. It can either be plain or can have a filling of peas, potato or anything you prefer most.  Traditionally it is baked in earthen oven and made plain.) and Churma which is almost like this dish’s own customized dessert.

Today I have tried the bati with an aloo- paneer-matar  (potato-cottage cheese-peas) stuffing and made quite a similar version in my own urban set up.

I know this is a long, long recipe but it’s a classic and worth the time and effort. Hope you enjoy.

For Bafla/Bati

Ingredients

• Whole wheat flour (coarse) 1 cup
• Semolina (suji) ½ cup
• Gram flour (besan) 2 tbl spn
• Baking soda ¹ tsp
• Fennel seeds (saunf) 1 tsp
• Carom seeds (ajwain) ½ tsp
• Salt to taste
• Melted Ghee (clarified butter) ¼ cup
• Milk/curd/luke warm water  ¼ cup (or as needed)

Method

Mix well all the above dry ingredients first and add melted ghee in it to form a bread crumb like texture.

By adding curd or milk knead into a stiff dough.

The dough is ready now but if you want to go for a stuffed Bati, follow the next step.

For the Stuffing 

• Cottage cheese 1/2 cup
• Peas 1/2 cup
• Potato 1(boiled and mashed)
• Onion 1(chopped)
• Green chili 2(chopped)
• Tomato 1 (chopped)
• Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
• Red chili powder 1/4 tsp
• Coriander powder 1/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
• Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp
• Oil 2 tbl spn
• Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a pan, tamper with cumin seeds.

Add onion, green chili, ginger garlic paste, peas and salt. Fry for 2 minutes  and then add chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and fry for some more time till the peas are soft.

Add mashed potato and cottage cheese  and mix well. Fry  it til it’s golden.

Add  garam masala powder  and keep aside to cool down.

Stuffing the batis

From your prepped dough make golf ball size balls (around 8).

Flatten them with the pressure of your hand and press the sides with your finger and make (around 3″diameter) roundels.

Make small balls of your stuffing and stuff the batis like shown in the picture.

Once you’re done with the stuffing and your batis are ready, in a deep vessel boil water and pour all the batis into it. If you don’t want to stuff your batis, then boil the dough balls as it is. Either way, the next few steps are the same for both the stuffed and non stuffed Bati.

Boil for 15 minutes over high heat and then keep them aside to cool.

Add ghee in a wok and over low heat fry the boiled batis till lightly golden from all sides.

This may take time as you are frying over low heat and the inner parts also need to be done.
Bafla batis are now prepared.

Alternatively,

• If you want to bake batis in oven, preheat the oven and grease the pan generously. Then in convection mode, bake them on the middle rack for 25 minutes at 180 degree till golden.
• Don’t forget to turn them in between.

For the Dal (Panchmel/Panchratan)

This is the second element of this dish but can be had even otherwise with rice or roti or parantha.

Ingredients   

• Yellow lentils (toor dal) 50 gms
• Red lentils (masoor dal) 50 gms
• Bengal gram(chana dal) 50 gms
• Green lentil(moong dal)skinless 50 gms
• Black lentil(urad dal) skinless 50 gms
• Onion 3 big(sliced)
• Ginger paste 1 tbl spn
• Garlic paste 1 tbl spn
• Tomato 2 big (chopped)
• Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder 1.5 tsp
• Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil 3 tbl spn
• Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp

Method
Wash all the lentils together and soak in water for 1 hr. Pressure cook the dal by adding water, salt and  turmeric powder into it.

Once your Dal is boiled, heat a wok and add oil to it and tamper with cumin seed. As the seeds starts to crackle add the chopped onion and fry till slightly colored. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2minutes. Now add chopped tomatoes chili powder,coriander powder and with sprinkle of water fry till you observe oil on the surface area.

Add the boiled dal in it and mix well. Let it boil for 5minutes till deserved consistency.This dal should be thick. Keep aside.

**Optional**

You can also season your Dal with Red Chili and Garlic- ‘Baghar’ that is typically done in Rajasthani cuisine.

How to ‘Baghar’/’Chhaunkna’/’Season’ :

Ingredients

• Whole (dried)Red chili 2 (seeded)
• Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
• Garlic 1tsp (crushed)
• Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
• Ghee 2tbl spn

Method

Just before serving, boil the dal and keep over low heat. In another pan heat 2 tbl spn of ghee add 2 broken whole red chili, cumin seeds and garlic flakes. Fry for 2 minutes and as the garlic turns pink remove from heat and immediately add 1 tsp red chili powder.Mix and pour this on the dal. Remove the Dal from heat and cover for 5minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander.

For Churma

Ingredients

• Whole wheat (ata) 1 cup
• Semolina (suji) 1/4 cup
• Baking soda (soda bi carbonate)
• Ghee (melted) 5 tbl spn
• Green cardamom 6-8
• Almond 2 tbl spn (chopped)
• Sugar 1 cup
• Ghee to deep fry
• Water

Method

In a bowl add all given dry ingredients and mix well. Add melted ghee to it and mix well to prepare a bread crumb.

Add little water and knead to prepare a stiff dough. Keep aside for 20 minutes.

Divide the mixture in 8-9 equal parts into small balls and flatten them with the pressure of your hand with a indent in the center by your thumb.

Heat a wok and add ghee into it. Fry the balls over low heat till lightly golden from all sides. This will take a lot of your time but make sure to keep it on low heat the whole time.

In a blender add sugar, roasted cardamom and almond to a smooth powder and keep aside.

When your dough balls are fried keep them aside to cool it down.

Once they are cool, break them into small pieces.

Put the pieces in the blender a few at a time and grind to a powdery texture. Repeat till you grind all the fried dough. Add the sugar-cardamom-almond mixture to it and grind it all together in the blender again.

Your churma is  ready.

You may also

• Add cashew nuts and raisins too in your churma if you like.
• Prepare it and store too for several days in an air tight container.

Enjoy this exotic dish along with Churma and Garlic Chutney.

Traditionally the dish is served by crushing or breaking the batis in small pieces then pouring Ghee and piping hot dal over it. And then wrap up this heavy, healthy and delicious meal with some Churma!

Rajasthani Cuisine is one of my favorites and something I love to eat/cook. Thankyou for your wonderful feedback on the previous part of this post (you can find it here) I would love to know what other Indian cuisines are your favorite so comment away and I’ll post the recipe as soon as I can. Happy Cooking 🙂