Daal er baura r jhaal/ Lentil fritters in mustard based gravy

This actually came back to the memory forefront due to a discussion on a Facebook Food Forum I am a member of regarding what exactly Bengali people refer to when they say “jhaal”. Without getting into all that details, we can say that Bengalis are fond of their shorshe bata (mustard paste) and find ways to put it in gravies, steams (bhapa and paturi) and more (condiments like kasundi). Here is a vegetarian mustard paste based gravy that adds tang to shallow fried lentil fritters.

 

Ingredients:

• Matar Dal (Split peas Lentil) — Soaked overnight
• Nigella seeds (kaalo jeerey)
• Mustard Paste (I use Sunrise mustard powder and follow instructions to form the paste)
• Salt to taste
• Green Chillies
• Panch Phoron (Bengali five spices mix) — optional
• Sliced Onions (optional)
• Cooking Oil

 

Method:

• Soak the lentils and then grind them along with a couple of green chillies.
• Add salt and nigella seeds to the ground batter and mix in well.
• Heat oil in a wok. Once heated, turn the flame to medium.
• Add a spoonful of the batter to the oil and fry till both sides are golden.
• Take the fritters off the heat and drain the oil. Keep aside.
• In the oil left in the wok add panch phoron or nigella seeds (for tempering — choice is yours).
• If you are adding the onions, this is the time to fry them till translucent.
• Now add the mustard paste. Make sure the paste is a little runny, for the lentil fritters would absorb some liquid.
• Once the mustard paste comes to boil, add the fritters.
• Turn the flame low, cover the wok and allow the fritters to absorb the flavours. Add a few slit green chillies
• After a while, turn off the flame, allow some standing time.
• Serve with steamed rice.