Chana Dal Recipe

My chana dal is split chickpeas simmered in spiced vegetable stock with roasted sweet potato and peppers folded through at the end. It costs very little, it feeds four properly, and the dal keeps some bite rather than collapsing into a puree, which is the part most recipes do differently.

It is a filling, protein-rich meal with no meat in it at all. The spicing is my own blend rather than a shop-bought masala, and the dal cooks in stock rather than water, which is where most of the depth comes from.

Serve it with rice or flatbread.

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What is Chana Dal?

Chana Dal, also known as split chickpeas or Bengal gram, is a staple ingredient in Indian cuisine. Derived from black chickpeas (kala chana), the outer layer of the chickpea is removed and the inner kernel is split, resulting in small, yellow, split peas. These peas have a sweet, nutty flavour and are commonly used in a variety of dishes ranging from dal preparations (lentil soups) to sweets and side dishes.

Dry chana dal is about a quarter protein and a fifth fibre by weight, which is why a bowl of this fills you up the way a bowl of rice does not. Cooked, it roughly doubles in weight, so the 200 g in the card below comes out at somewhere near 500 g of cooked dal across four bowls.

In English it is usually sold as split chickpeas, or as Bengal gram. It is not the same as yellow split peas, which are a different plant altogether and cook far softer, and it is not toor dal, which is split pigeon pea and breaks down into a smooth soup. Masoor dal, the red one, collapses in twenty minutes. Chana dal is the sturdiest of the four, which is why it holds its shape in a dish like this one and why it is the least forgiving if the packet is old.

If a recipe calls for kala chana, that is the whole black chickpea with the skin still on. Chana dal is the same chickpea skinned and split, so it cooks in a fraction of the time.

Is Chana Dal Meant to Be Creamy?

Both answers are right, and the difference is a choice rather than a mistake. A dhaba-style chana dal is cooked until the lentils give up and the whole pot turns to one thick, creamy body. Mine is not that. It keeps the dal just short of soft so you can still feel each split chickpea against the roasted sweet potato and peppers, which would be lost in a puree.

If creamy is what you came for, three things get you there and none of them is a new ingredient. Give it another ten or fifteen minutes past the point in the recipe. Take a spoon and mash a third of the dal against the side of the pan, then stir it back in, which is the oldest fix in every Indian kitchen and thickens it without flour or cream. And salt at the end rather than at the start: salt in the pot early stops the starch granules swelling and gelling properly and pushes the texture towards mealy instead of creamy, which is why the card holds the salt back to the last step.

Soaking, and Why Some Chana Dal Never Softens

Soak it. Chana dal takes on more than half the water it will ever hold in the first two hours, and plateaus at roughly double its dry weight after ten or twelve. The two to three hours in the card is the practical middle of that. Hot water from the kettle gets you there faster if you are short of time, and an overnight soak in cold water does no harm.

The complaint you will find under every chana dal recipe on the internet is dal that simply will not soften, and the usual answer given is to soak it longer. That is only half true, and the other half is worth knowing. Pulses stored for months somewhere warm and humid go through a set of changes that no amount of soaking undoes: the cell walls stiffen, the phenolic compounds turn into tannins that lock the proteins together, and the storage proteins form a water-resistant coat around the starch. A batch like that will cook smaller and firmer than it should whatever you do to it.

You cannot spot it in the bag, so the defence is where you buy rather than what you do in the kitchen. An Indian grocer with real turnover is a better bet than a packet that has sat on a supermarket shelf, and a bag that has lived in a warm cupboard for two years is the one to throw out. If you are stuck with dal you suspect is old, a longer soak and a longer simmer will get you some of the way. A pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the water will get you further and cuts the cooking time sharply, but it also leaves a slippery, faintly soapy mouthfeel, so it is a trade rather than a fix.

Equipment You’ll Need

A decent pan and freshly ground spices carry this dal.

A Closer Look at the Ingredients

Chana dal is humble food, and every part of this one is pulling its weight:

• Chana dal (split chickpeas) the whole point. Soak it, and buy it somewhere with turnover rather than off the back of a shelf.
• Vegetable stock rather than water this is the one thing that separates my version from most. Every recipe I compared boils the dal in plain water and seasons afterwards. Stock puts savoury depth in from the first minute, and it is why the finished pot needs less rescuing at the end.
• My own spice blend ground coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, cardamom, black pepper, fennel and Kashmiri chilli. Ground fennel and fenugreek are unusual here, and they are what give it a sweeter, rounder edge than a garam masala would.
• Cumin seeds and curry leaves whole, and they go into the hot fat with the onion rather than over the top at the end. More on that in the method.
• Roasted sweet potato and peppers roasted separately so they caramelise instead of stewing, then folded in near the end so they stay in pieces.
• Tinned chickpeas a handful, for a second texture against the split ones.
• Spinach stirred in off the heat, purely to wilt.
• Lime, juice and zest the souring agent. Most versions use amchur or lemon here. Lime is sharper and greener and it lands better against the sweet potato.

Ingredient Substitutions

• No chana dal? yellow split peas are the closest thing in a British supermarket and cook to a similar place, though softer and less nutty. Toor dal works but breaks down much further, so you lose the texture this recipe is built around.
• No sweet potato butternut squash behaves almost identically. Ordinary potato works but brings no sweetness, so add a little more lime at the end to compensate.
• No curry leaves there is no real substitute for the smell, so leave them out rather than reach for bay. The dish still works.
• No fenugreek or fennel in the cupboard a good shop-bought garam masala at the same total quantity gets you a warmer, more familiar dal. It will taste like other people’s chana dal rather than mine, which may be exactly what you want.
• Vegan it already is, as long as you use oil rather than ghee.
• Lower heat the Kashmiri chilli is there for colour more than fire, so it is already mild. Leave it out entirely and you lose the red rather than much heat.

How to Make Chana Dal, Step by Step

Six steps, and they match the recipe card below exactly. The card is the short version for when you already know the dish, and this is the one that explains why each step is where it is.

1. Rinse and soak the dal. Wash the chana dal in cold water, changing the water until it runs clear rather than cloudy. That cloud is loose starch, and rinsing it off is what keeps the finished pot from going gluey. Cover with two cups of water and leave it for two to three hours. It takes on more than half the water it will hold in the first two hours, so this is the useful part of the soak rather than an arbitrary wait. Hot water from the kettle shortens it if you are pushed.
2. Roast the peppers and sweet potato. Oven to 200C, diced peppers and sweet potato on a tray with oil and a little salt, 15 to 20 minutes. Spread them out in a single layer: crowded on the tray they steam instead of catching colour, and the caramelised edges are the whole reason for roasting them separately rather than simmering them in the pot with everything else. Set them aside.
3. Soften the onion, then the garlic. Oil or ghee in a large saucepan over medium heat, diced onion, about five minutes until it goes soft and translucent. Then the garlic for one minute more, and no longer. Garlic added at the same time as the onion is bitter by the time the onion is ready, because it burns in a fraction of the time.
4. Toast the whole spices, then build the pot. Cumin seeds, curry leaves and the spice blend into the hot fat for a minute, until you can smell them lift. Ground spice in hot fat is where most of the flavour in this dish is made, and a minute is genuinely all it takes before it turns acrid. Pour in the stock, bring it to the boil, then in with the drained dal and the tinned chickpeas. Down to a simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the dal is tender but still has a little resistance in the middle. Add a splash of water if it tightens up too far. If your dal is still hard at 25 minutes it is almost certainly old stock rather than anything you have done, so give it longer and expect it to stay firmer.
5. Fold in everything that should stay in pieces. Tomato wedges, the roasted peppers and sweet potato, five minutes more. Then off the heat for the spinach, which only needs to wilt, and finally the chopped coriander, lime juice, lime zest and salt to taste. The salt goes in here rather than at the start on purpose: salt in the pot early stops the starch swelling properly and pushes the dal towards a mealy texture. Taste it now, because this is the only chance to fix it, and it will almost always want more lime than you think.
6. Serve it hot. Rice or flatbread, a scatter of ground coriander over the top and another squeeze of lime at the table. It thickens as it stands, so loosen it with a little hot water if it has been sitting.

Recipe Card for Chana Dal

Recipe Card

Chana Dal Recipe

Split chickpeas simmered in spiced vegetable stock, with roasted sweet potato and peppers folded in near the end so they keep their edges. The dal is cooked to just short of soft rather than to a puree, and the spice blend is ground from scratch.

★★★★★ 5 from 4 votes · Rate this recipe

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Prep

10 min

Cook

40 min

Soaking time

2 hrs

Total

2 hrs 50 min

Serves

4

Per serving

497 kcal

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Equipment I Use

Hybrid Non Stick Frying PanSpice Blender

Ingredients

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Chana Dal Ingredients:

200 g Split Chickpeas, (Chana Dal, Bengal Gram) 120 g Canned Chickpeas, drained 2 Fresh Tomatoes, Large, cut into wedges 1 Large Onion, diced 4 Garlic Cloves, minced 500 ml Vegetable Stock 100 g Fresh Spinach 2 tbsp Chana Dal Spice Blend, recipe below 50 g Fresh Coriander, chopped, stalks and all 2 Bell Peppers, Small, diced 1 Sweet Potato, Small, peeled and diced 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 5 Curry Leaves, sliced 1 Lime, juiced and Zested Ground Coriander, for garnish 4 tbsp Oil or Ghee, for roasting vegetables and frying onions

Chana Dal Spice Blend (Chana Masala):

1 tbsp Ground Coriander 1 tsp Ground Turmeric 1 tsp Ground Cumin ½ tsp Ground Fenugreek ½ tsp Ground Cardamom ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper ½ tsp Ground Fennel ¼ tsp Ground Kashmiri Chilli Powder

Instructions

Tap a step to tick it off as you cook.

1

Soak Chana Dal

Wash the chana dal thoroughly until the water runs clear. Soak the chana dal in 500 ml of water for about 2-3 hours.

2

Roasting Veggies

In the meantime preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F). Place the diced peppers and sweet potato on a baking tray, drizzling them with oil and a touch of salt. Spread them out in a single layer so they colour rather than steam. Allow them to bake for 15-20 minutes and then set them aside.

3

Sautéing Base Ingredients

In a large saucepan, heat some oil or ghee over medium heat. Toss in the diced onions, letting them cook until they soften, which should take around 5 minutes. Follow this with the minced garlic, allowing it to cook for an additional minute.

4

Adding Spices and Preparing the Broth

Next, incorporate the cumin seeds, curry leaves, and the Chana Dal spice blend into the mix, letting them cook for another minute. To this mixture, pour in the vegetable stock and get it to a boil. As the broth forms, reduce the heat, adding the chickpeas and Chana Dal, letting everything simmer for 20-25 minutes or until Chana Dal is al dente. If the sauce becomes too thick, you can add some water to adjust the consistency.

5

Incorporating Roasted Veggies

Once the lentils are ready, integrate the diced tomatoes, roasted peppers, and sweet potato, letting them cook for about 5 more minutes. As a finishing touch, fold in the fresh spinach until it wilts, followed by the chopped coriander, lime juice, lime zest, and a salt to your taste.

6

Serving Instructions

Serve it hot with rice or bread of your choice, with some ground coriander sprinkled over and another squeeze of lime at the table. It thickens as it stands, so loosen it with a little hot water if it has been sitting.

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Chef’s notes＋

Soak it, and buy it fresh. Two to three hours, or hot water from the kettle if you are short of time. Chana dal that has sat in a warm cupboard for a year or two will never fully soften however long you cook it, so buy from somewhere with turnover.

Salt at the end, not the start. Salt early stops the starch swelling properly and gives a mealy dal instead of a creamy one. It goes in with the lime at step 5.

Roast the vegetables in a single layer. Crowded on the tray they steam instead of colouring, and the caramelised edges are the reason they are roasted separately.

If you want it creamier, give the dal another ten to fifteen minutes and mash a third of it against the side of the pan before the vegetables go in.

Keeping it: four days in the fridge, three months frozen. It thickens as it stands, so loosen it with water or stock when you reheat.

Nutrition per serving＋

497 kcalProtein 19.4 gCarbs 64.9 gFat 20 gSat fat 1.9 gFibre 14 gSugar 15.9 gSodium 325 mgServing 510

Chana Dal Recipe · https://chefsbinge.com/chana-dal/

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Variations and What to Serve With Chana Dal

Serve chana dal with steamed basmati rice, warm naan or roti. To make it richer, stir in a splash of coconut milk; for more heat, add extra green chilli. For a fuller Indian spread, pair it with my Mango Butter Chicken, spicy Beef Madras.

Storing, Freezing and Reheating

Cool it quickly rather than leaving the pan out, get it into the fridge within two hours and it keeps for four days. It freezes well for three months, and unusually for a vegetable dish it comes back almost unchanged, because there is nothing in it with a delicate texture to lose. The spinach is the only part that suffers and nobody will notice.

It thickens hard in the fridge, so reheat it with a splash of water or stock and stir it as it comes up. Reheat it until it is properly bubbling through, not just warm. Most people, myself included, think it is better on the second day, because the spices have had a night to settle into the dal.

FAQ for Chana Dal

A Few Words from the Chef

This is the dal I make when the fridge is nearly empty and I still want something that eats like a proper dinner. Tell me how you got on with it, and whether you took it all the way to creamy or left it with some bite.