Luchi with Chana Dal

Ingredients

Luchi:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• ¾ cup warm water
• 6 cups plus 2 tbsp canola oil

Chana Dal:

• Note: Use Instant Pot to cook fast; otherwise can cook on stove top for an hour or until softened.
• 1 ½ cup chana dal (split bengal gram)
• 2 ½ cups water
• ¾ cup yellow onion, chopped in food processor
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped in food processor
• ½ tbsp ginger, chopped in food processor
• 1 cup plum tomatoes, quartered
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp garam masala

Chana Dal Tempering:

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 2 dried red chilies
• 10 curry leaves (fresh or frozen)

Chana Dal Garnish:

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 7 dried red chilies
• 14 curry leaves
• 2 tbsp cilantro leaves, torn

Instructions

Prepare Luchi Dough

1. 1
   Take a medium bowl and add flour, salt, sugar, and 1 tablespoon oil. Mix everything together using your hands.
2. 2
   Add water to a small bowl and microwave for 15 seconds.
3. 3
   Add some or most of the warm water to the flour mix and knead the flour. If it looks like more water is needed, add the remaining water (don’t add too much at the beginning, dough shouldn’t be watery, but neither should it be dry and tough, it needs to be soft). Knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is less tacky.
4. 4
   Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow the dough to rest for a minimum of 15 minutes, 30 minutes if possible.

Form Luchi

5. 1
   Set up a rolling pin and rolling board/surface.
6. 2
   Pull out a small portion of the dough, approx. 1.5 inch diameter (continue to keep the bowl with the rest of the dough covered).
7. 3
   Make it into a round ball – first tucking in on each side (5 to 6 tucks), then forming a ball by rolling between the palms of the hands. Put the ball on the rolling surface.
8. 4
   Take a tablespoon of oil in a small bowl. Dip your forefinger in the bowl of oil, then press the oiled finger into the ball of dough making an indentation.
9. 5
   With the rolling pin, with light pressure, roll it flat. Turn it 90 degrees and roll again.
10. 6
    Continue the process until the luchi is about 4 inches wide and fairly thin (although not too thin). To get the even round shape, you can use a 4-inch diameter cookie cutter to form perfectly round luchis.

Fry Luchi

11. 1
    Add remaining oil to a large wok, covering at least 1/3 of the wok. Heat on medium heat.
12. 2
    Make sure oil is hot but not too hot otherwise the luchi will burn. Do a test by dropping a tiny fleck of dough in the oil – if it starts rising immediately, oil is hot enough.
13. 3
    Carefully lower the luchi into the oil. With a round wide spatula, tap gently on edges of the luchi and rotate to help it puff. As soon as it puffs up, flip it and fry the other side for a few seconds. (Each luchi should take no more than a few seconds, they should not be crisp or brown.)
14. 4
    Remove from oil, hold it against the wok at an angle for a few seconds to drain the oil.
15. 5
    Place on a plate lined with paper towel.
16. 6
    If the oil is too hot, turn off the heat and wait for it to cool down a bit before adding the next luchi.
17. 7
    If the luchi didn’t turn out ok, tweak and test the next luchi (for example if the luchi didn’t puff up, try rolling out thinner).
18. 8
    If the luchi turned out ok, then start making the rest of the luchis the same way. Make all the balls first, keep them covered in the bowl, then roll them out one by one, place them on a plate on a paper towel before frying them one by one. After frying, set up on other plates lined with paper towels.
19. 9
    Serve immediately. Otherwise the luchis will flatten quickly as they sit and wait.

Chana Dal

20. 1
    Add chana dal to a small pot, fill with water, and rinse a couple of times. Pour out the water. Then fill with water and let it sit.
21. 2
    Boil water in a kettle or saucepan.
22. 3
    Using an Instant Pot, add drained chana dal, boiling water, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, chili powder, and salt to the pot. Stir.
23. 4
    Close the lid with the vent in the sealing position. Set the Instant Pot to manual, pressure cook mode at high pressure for 15 mins.
24. 5
    After the Instant Pot beeps, it’s done. Slide open the vent from sealed to vent to release the pressure. Open the cover.
25. 6
    Note: If you’re not rushed for time, there is no need to use an Instant Pot. You can cook in a large pot on the stove top for about 45 minutes to an hour on medium heat, until the chana dal has softened (make sure it doesn’t dry up as it should have some liquid; you can add more water as it’s cooking). Stove top is my preferred method.

Tempering

26. 1
    In a large pot, add ghee.
27. 2
    When ghee is hot, add in order: dried chilies, cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, and curry leaves. Stir fry for a few seconds until mustard seeds start to pop.
28. 3
    Add in chana dal to the pot. Stir and cook for a few minutes until flavors are incorporated and water is mostly gone (should still have some liquid).

Garnish

29. 1
    In a small pan or wok, heat 1 tablespoon of ghee.
30. 2
    When hot, add dried red chilies and curry leaves. Stir fry for a few seconds.
31. 3
    Garnish the chana dal with dried red chili, curry leaves, and torn cilantro leaves.

Serving Chana Dal & Luchis

32. 1
    When ready to serve, spoon chana dal in small bowls. Serve with plate of luchis.