Recipe: Chana Dal Amti (Maharashtrian Style)

After mostly cooking mixed-vegetable Toor Dals or Chana Dals [Split Bengal Gram] for regular meals, when I cooked Amti I was amazed at how such amalgamation of flavors of herbs and spices add so much punch to Chana Dal.


Amti is a Maharashtrian style sweet-salty-spicy-tangy Dal eaten with rice, more famous as an accompaniment to Puran Poli.  It appears that a special Maharashtrian style ‘Goda Masala’ is used for cooking Amti, but in this Amti recipe that I’ve used (picked from Shobha Indani’s book) it’s a shorter version of the masala.  


So in case you don’t have all the ingredients required in actual Goda Masala (here’s a recipe on Sanjeev Kapoor’s page), then you may go ahead with the recipe below, still tastes great   :-)

Chana Dal Amti - Maharashtrian style Dal

Stuffed Eggplant Potato Onion Curry (Bharwan Baingan Aloo Pyaaz Sabji)

In this bharvan baingan aloo pyaaz sabzi made with Maharashtrian style gravy, instead of all three vegetables any single vegetable can also be used.  Below I have posted the original recipe of Stuffed Eggplant Potato Onion Curry (Bharwan Baingan Aloo Pyaaz Sabji) from Shobha Indani's cookbook 'Swad Sugandh', but keeping everything else as it is, I have cooked only with eggplants (aka brinjal / aubergine), making bharwan baingan here.  This stuffed eggplant sabji (bharvan baigan) with Maharashtrian flavor is very different from the Hyderabadi specialty stuffed eggplants (bangara baingan).

What you need:

For paste:	For sabji:
1 Tbsp Oil	6 small Onions
3 whole Dry Red Chillies	6 small Eggplants (I used 5 though)
1 Bay Leaf	6 small parboiled Potatoes
2 pcs Cinnamon Sticks	2 Tbsp Oil
2 Cloves
2 Cardamoms	For tempering:
1 cup thinly sliced Onion	½ tsp Mustard Seeds
5 cloves Garlic	½ tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp grated Ginger	Pinch Asafoetida
2 Tbsp chopped Cilantro
2 Tbsp grated & lightly roasted Dry Coconut	For garnishing:
1 Tbsp roasted Sesame Seeds	1 Tbsp chopped Cilantro
1 Tbsp Khus-Khus (Poppy Seeds) *I didn't use*	1 Tbsp grated Coconut
¼ cup roasted & shelled Peanuts
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tsp Red Chilly Powder	Serves: 4 – 6
1 Tbsp Coriander-Cumin Powder
½ tsp Garam Masala
Salt to taste (I used 1 tsp)

ingredients for bharwan baingan, bharwan aloo, bharwan pyaaz ki sabji