Dal Baati! Do you consider this to be a delicacy difficult to prepare? Well, partly, you are right. It is a delicacy. But the part about it being difficult to prepare is a bit too blown out of proportion.
Dal baati too can be simple to prepare. With bits of improvisation the dish can be on your table within two hours. Oh, yes a little bit preparation is needed but nothing drastic.
Shall we make it?
Ingredients:
For the baati
- Whole wheat flour – 2 cups
- Rawa – 1 cup
- Curd – 1/2 cup
- Salt – 1/2 tsp
- Baking powder – 1 tsp
For the dal
-
- Toor dal – 2 cups
- Turmeric – 1 tsp
- Salt – as per taste
- For tempering
- Onion – 1 chopped
- Green chilies – 2 chopped
- Jeera (cumin) – 1/2 tsp
- Hing (Asafoetida) – a pinch
- Red chili powder – 1/4 tsp
- Corriander for garnishing
- Ghee – 1 tbsp
Method:
For the baati, in a large bowl, add the wheat flour, semolina, curd, salt and baking powder. Mix all the ingredients.
Add enough water and knead to get a soft dough. Smear the dough with water, cover the bowl and leave for at least half an hour.
For the dal, wash the dal till the water runs clear. Add salt and turmeric and set it in a pressure cooker to cook. 3-4 whistles should be enough to cook the dal.
Allow the pressure to release.
The baati dough would have absorbed moisture by now. You will notice that the water you smeared is no more visible and the dough has become a little harder. This is because the dry semolina would have absorbed much of the moisture.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Knead the dough once again to remove cracks, if any. Divide the dough into twelve equal portions.
Rolling between your palms, make balls of all the twelve portions. Flatten each ball a little. Make a small indent on each flattened ball with your thumb.
Arrange these balls on a baking rack.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 30 minutes. When the tops of the baatis become golden brown you know they are done.
Prepare the dal while the baatis bake. We need to give the dal a good boil. In the pressure cooker the dal cooks but does not mix. It is only on boiling that we get a uniform consistency.
To temper the dal, heat ghee in a small tempering dish. Add the onion and allow to cook till golden brown. Add the hing and all the other ingredient. Allow the spices to splutter for 5-10 seconds. Insert the spices along with the dish into the hot dal and cover immediately.
A little bit of caution is required here as the dal tends to splash out.
It is best to use a small iron wok kind of dish as you can drop the dish along with the spices into the dal.
By now the baatis would also be done. Remove from oven and place in dish lined with thick cloth.
Remove the baati from the bowl, allow the extra ghee to drain and serve hot with dal. Baigan bharta also goes very well with
dal baati.
Top up your hearty meal with a glass of chilled chhaas!