Dal Fara

In clean, separate bowls, soak the urad dal, Bengal gram (chana dal), and arhar dal in water overnight, or at least for eight hours.

After soaking, drain off the excess water and combine the dals together. Grind the dal mixture in batches until coarse. Keep aside.

Grind all the ingredients for the masala, including the chillies and garlic, together into a fine paste. Add a few tablespoons of water to aid this process, if needed. Keep the masala mixture aside as well.

In another clean bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, rice flour, 2-3 pinches of salt, a tablespoon of oil, and approximately one cup of water. Knead this mixture into a pliant dough, similar in consistency and texture to a chapati dough. Keep the dough aside, covered using a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.

Combine the dal mixture with the masala paste, stirring well to ensure that the masala is evenly dispersed. Adjust the seasoning to your preference with salt, if necessary. Make sure the mixture isn’t runny, as it will become difficult to handle while steaming.

In a stockpot or a deep vessel, heat some water until it begins to boil. Add a pinch or two of salt.

While the water is boiling, divide the dough into small portions. Roll each portion into 6-inch circular poori-like shapes. Repeat until you have used up the dough (approximately 10-15 pieces).

In each poori, place a tablespoon of the dal mixture and fold it into half. Seal the edges using some water to form half-moon-shaped dumplings. You can experiment with different shapes once the dal mixture is stuffed into the dough.

Once the dumplings are ready, gently steep them into the boiling water, allowing to boil on a low-to-medium flame for approximately 30-40 minutes. This will help the stuffing and the dough wrappers to fully cook.

There are two ways of serving dal fara: you can serve the cooked dumplings with some of the starchy water used for boiling, topping them with ghee. For Ankita, this is very comforting, particularly when recovering from an illness.

The second way to serve it is to toss it in a tempering. Drain out all the water once the dumplings are cooked and allow them to cool. Once they reach room temperature (or if you have leftovers), slice them into thin strips. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a kadhai and add the cumin seeds, curry leaves, and asafoetida once the oil is hot. Add the strips of dal fara and cook for a couple of minutes until the tempering is evenly dispersed—similar to an upma. Garnish with chopped coriander.