Chana Dal or Spilt Chickpea Soup
Chana Dal or Spilt Chickpea Soup is a warming, hearty and delicious meal for the winter time. You can eat this soup with vegetables or on its own with raita (yogurt dressing). I love mine with crispy fried onions and yogurt. This is a simple, easy to make recipe that can be refrigerated for 2 days.
I recommend cooking it with vegetable stock, however if you are not a vegetarian you can also use homemade bone broth to make it more nutritious.
Chana Dal or Split Chickpea
Dosha: V↑, PK↓
Taste: Cooling
Energetics: Cooling
Benefits:
- Chana Dal is extremely delicious in taste, full of nutritious and can be digested easily.
- Chana Dal is low in fat and high in fiber.
- It contains polyunsaturated fatty acids (ALA and omega 3) and soluble fiber which helps in lowering cholesterol and reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
- It is beneficial for the diabetics because of its unique properties and low glycemic index.
- Due to the high fiber content, the beneficial bacteria’s in the gut metabolizes the fiber in the colon to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetic, propionic and butyric acid.
Chana Dal is also known as garbanzo beans, Bengal grams, and Egyptian peas. It has a delicious nutty taste and buttery texture. Chana Dal or spilt chickpea soup will provide you with a concentrated source of protein that can be enjoyed year-round. Canned chickpeas will not work for this recipe. Therefore obtain the split chana Dal or spilt chickpea from the bulk area of a grocery store.
It is a very versatile legume, and is used in many Middle Eastern and Indian dishes such as hummus, falafels and curries.
Ingredients:
Spilt Chickpeas
Ghee or butter oil
Cumin seeds
Asafoetida or hing
Fresh tomatoes, chopped
Ground coriander
Turmeric
Garlic, minced
Fresh ginger, minced
Sea salt to taste
Lemon juice
Fried onion (garnishing)
Yogurt (garnishing)
- 2 cups dried split chickpeas
- 6 cups of water (for better taste you can add 3 cups of water and 3 cups of vegetable stock)
- 2 tbs. ghee or butter oil
- 1 ½ tsp. whole cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp. of Asafoetida or hing
- 1 ½ cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
- 1 ½ tsp. ground coriander
- ¼ tsp. turmeric
- 1 tsp. garlic, minced
- 1-2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
- Sea salt to taste
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, or to taste
- 1 Tbsp. of fried onion (garnishing)
- 1 tsp. of yogurt (garnishing)
- 1. Wash chana dal or split chickpea thoroughly.
- 2. Soak chana dal over night for better digestion.
- 3. Boil water in a pot with a pinch of salt and cook dal for 30 minutes, adding turmeric, ginger and ground coriander.
- 4. In a pan on heat ghee, add cumin seeds and hing. Let them sizzle for couple of seconds.
- 5. Add tomatoes, garlic and sauté until they soften and spices are well cooked, about 8-10 minutes.
- 6. Add mix to cooked chickpeas and mix over medium heat.
- 7. Cook for 5 minutes and add lemon juice.
- 8. Garnish with fried onion and yogurt.
