Dal Baati - Cook when it rains!

Vandana Jain

Jai Jinendra

Here’s a wonderful recipe from the wonderful state of kings n forts, riches and luxury, Rajasthan. It is a delicacy which is prepared at all happy occasions. It is cooked at our home when it rains, when we have guests and when we want to give our stomach a treat. It is DAL BAATI.

Ingredients:

For Baati,

• Wheat flour - 4cups
• Ghee - 3tbsp
• Milk - 1 1/2 cup
• Carom seeds - 1tsp
• Salt - as per taste

For dal,

• Green gram split dal with skin - 2 cups
• Chana dal - 1 tsp (You can also take some mix dals of one spoon)

Procedure :

For Dal,

• Start kneading the dough by adding ghee salt carom seeds and luke warm milk little by little.
• The dough should be hard so we can make the Baati balls in perfect shape.
• Keep the dough aside for one hour
• Now wash the dal and soak for two hours.
• After it’s soaked, cook it nicely until its consistency becomes like sambar. (a little thick)
• Once cooked season it with lot of ghee crushed garlic, cumin and mustard seeds, turmeric, green chill, red chili powder, two cloves, bay leaves, salt and juice or one lemon
• Your Dal is ready.

For the Baati,

• Knead the dough for at least twenty minutes and make balls (of the size of sweet
• lime or orange).
• Bake it in a preheated oven till it gets golden brown.
• Don’t over bake (that will make it hard)
• It can also be deep fried in ghee but the size to deep fry in ghee should be much smaller.
• Once baked, cut it into two and add a good amount of ghee.
• The Baati should be soaked fully in ghee for its taste to be enhanced

This recipe has come down to me from my mother. She is an expert in cooking and with the love that she adds to her dishes they taste heavenly. This dish is from the time of maharajas. At that time it was baked in huge containers filled with charcoal.

I am Vandana Jain, a homemaker with two sons. One of my sons is a Doctor and the other is an MBA graduate. I love to cook healthy food.