Daal Baati

It was raining here yesterday. A rain in between the gruelling heat of summer is so refreshingly welcome. M was back from office early yesterday and while having our evening snacks, we were discussing what to make  for dinner. The cool rainy whether prompted us to try making Daal-Baati - an awesome rajasthani delicacy. I have never made Daal-Baati on my own. At home, mom used to make it in Gas Tandoor. Snce I didn't have one, I never tried making it. Yesterday we thought of trying it in microwave - convection mode. Since the principle of cookng the Baati remains same - as in slow cooking in hot air - we reasoned that convection mode should also work. I have seen my mom and daadi make it countless times and hence was aware of the method. However just to ensure I dont miss anything, I called up my daadi for a quick recap. The recipe below is as per her directions.

You will need:

For Baati:

Wheat flour - 250 gm

Ghee - 2 tbsp ( the more the merrier :) )

Salt to taste

For Baati-filling:

Sattu ka atta - 100 gm

Ghee - 2 tsp

Green chillies, ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Haldi powder - 1/2 tsp

Ajwain - 1/2 tsp

Amchoor powder - 1 tsp

Juice of 1 lemon 

Salt to taste

For Daal:

Mix of 5 daals - totallung 2 cups ( equal portions of Toor daal, Yellow Moong daal, Green moong daal, Urad daal and Chana daal)
Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Haldi powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

For seasoning of the daal:

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Whole Jeera - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Bayleaf - 1 to 2

Cloves - 2

Green chillies, ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Chopped corriander leaves

Preparation:

Baati:

1. Mix the wheat flour, ghee and salt. Using water knead it into a little tight dough. Keep aside.

2. For the filling, heat Ghee in a pan (Kadhai) and roast the Sattu flour for 5 min till it becomes little pink in colour. (Sattu is the powder of roasted chana daal so we need to roast it for a long time).

3. Move it into a bowl and add all the remaining ingredients mentioned in the filling section. Mix it well and keep aside.

4. Prepare small balls out of the wheat flour dough, stretch it with hands to make a small round puri and fill it with the Sattu filling. Seal it at the top. (Use the same method as done for filling katchoris). 

5. Similarly prepare all the baatis.

6. Preheat convection microwave for 10 min.

7. Place the baatis inside the microwave and heat in convection mode for 35 min (at 200 degrees - that's the max setting in my microwave)

8. Keep turning the baatis after every 10 min.

9. Once the baatis are done, take it out and put it in a bowl of ghee. Using fork make some holes into the baati so that the ghee can seep in. Once the baaati soaks the ghee, take it out and keep it in the hotcase.

Daal:

1. Dry roast all the daals in a pan till it changes color. 

2. Take it out and add water, salt, haldi powder, dhania powder and pressure cook it.
3. For the seasoning, heat ghee in a pan. Add jeera and mustard seeds.

4. Once it crackles, add bayleaf, cloves and chilli ginger garlic paste. (You can also add curry leaves to it)

5. Once it turns slight brown, add the cooked daal to it.

6. Let it simmer for about 5 min in low flame.

7. At the end, add garam masala powder and chopped corriander leaves and remove it from the flame.

Both daal and baati are now ready to eat. Here's how it looks :-)