DAALNA

Hi all🙋🏻‍♀️,

This sabji reminds me of my childhood ☺️…. and also the pattal wali bhoj too held in our native land… Bihar.

My father used to prepare this vegetable on Sundays and made those..the special sundays😍. But it was my unfortune that I could not collect the recipe from him neither remember it despite of being with him throughout the procedure of making it. Somehow managed to go through 10-12 recipes on internet and finally the outcome.. tadaaaa🤗. I am really astounded😲it tastes the same.. like father.. like daughter😋.

Daalna is actually Bengali vegetable curry made with Bengali garam masala.. combination of 3 whole spices along with our few basic and regular spices. Add on of few tablespoons of desi ghee makes it more delicious and slurpy too. You can enjoy this veggie with phulke, puri or steamed rice. Best in anyways 👍🏻.

Now don’t count calories while making or eating daalna🙄. It requires lots of oil but mustard oil is must. You can go with some other oil too but mustard oil will give you authentic daalna😋. Have you ever noticed Bongs have no dull or pimply skin despite of not eating but drinking oil???🤔 Because they prepare everything in mustard oil. It’s the best for health as well as for skin too. That’s why infants are given .. shorshon tel-er maalish..(mustard oil massage).

Anyways.. let’s see for the recipe which will give you about 1.5 kgs of prepared daalna.

RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

FOR BENGALI GARAM MASALA:

4 sticks of cinnamon.. each stick of an inch

8 green cardamoms

6 cloves

FOR DAALNA:

VEGETABLES REQUIRED:

500 gms red pumpkin.. peeled and cut into cubes of 1.5”

700 gms cauliflower florets

5 medium sized potatoes.. peeled and cut into thick chunks

200 gms beans… just cut into an inch

250 gms carrot… peeled and cut into chunks of an inch

3 capsicums.. diced

1 cup green peas

3 large tomatoes.. roughly chopped

SPICES REQUIRED:

2” ginger

4-5 green chillies

3 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp red Kashmiri red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 bay leaves

OTHER INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp sugar

Salt as required

Oil.. mustard is best but you can go with some other oil too

2 tbsp of desi ghee

METHOD:

Firstly take the ingredients of Bengali garam masala and grind them into fine powder. If cardamom meshes are there.. don’t worry. Keep the masala aside.

Now grind ginger and green chillies with little water into fine paste. Keep it aside too.

Take an iron skillet and deep fry all the vegetables separately until 3/4 cooked. Cover and fry on medium high flame.

As the veggies are fried… in the same oil, add cumin and bay leaves. Let the seeds crackle.

Now add ginger and green chillies’ paste along with chopped tomatoes. Cover the skilled and let the tomatoes get soft at minimum flame. Simultaneously ginger paste is getting cooked too.

As the tomatoes get softer and you can see oil on the sides, add sugar, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder. Keep frying for 2-3 minutes until raw smell of coriander goes off.

Now add all the fried veggies and give a good stir.

Add 3 cups of hot water and stir thoroughly.

Add salt as per your taste. Cover the utensil and let the daalna boil for 5-7 minutes. You can see the gravy has thickened.

Add the prepared Bengali garam masala and ghee. Give a good stir and cover the skillet with lid. Leave it for 15-20 minutes. Let the masala and ghee jingle-mingle and introduce themselves to all the veggies🤣. Before I go for an autobioblog mode, let me finish the recipe and enjoy my daalna with steamed rice and slices onions.. a bowl of chilled mishti doi too😋😋😋😋.

You guys make and enjoy and KEEP COOKING👍🏻