Dal baati

Chitra’s Dal Baati, published by Chitra’s Food Book, is her Rajasthani preparation of a five-dal mixture with baked baati. This selection follows her oven method, including the optional preliminary boiling of the dough balls, and finishes the assembled dal and broken baati with ghee.

The five dals, main water, turmeric, supplied finely chopped onion and a whole tomato cook in a pressure cooker. After steam releases, the lid is removed, the mixture is mashed with a whisk and kept aside. In a small bowl, red chilli powder, ground coriander, garam masala and more of the same turmeric are mixed with their separate water into a paste. Ghee heats in a pan with cumin, bay leaf, cloves and supplied slit green chilli; the complete spice paste joins it and boils briefly.

Tamarind pulp, the same cooked dal, dal salt and amchur are stirred in and boiled. Extra water is added if needed to adjust the consistency, then the heat is switched off. The selected coriander-leaf garnish and optional lemon juice finish the dal.

Wheat flour, semolina, besan, dough salt, melted dough ghee and supplied boiled milk at room temperature are mixed in a wide bowl. The tight dough is kneaded, covered and rested. A separate deep bowl of water is brought to a rolling boil, and the shaped baati balls are partially cooked in it using the selected optional step. They are removed, arranged on a greased plate, coated with ghee and baked in the oven, turning once until golden.

The baati is broken into pieces in a small deep plate. The prepared dal is poured over it and the separate finishing ghee is drizzled on top. This assembled presentation is served hot.