Chak Bari Tarkary (Curry)

Chak Bari Tarkary (Curry)

Sometimes one just needs a warm bowl of comfort food. These cravings tend to jump out at the oddest times - a dull rainy day or a bad day at the office or even a nasty fellow commuter on the tube. If such days happen often enough, it would help the psyche no end to stock some of this in the fridge. Just nuke it for a minute, inhale it and, voila! mood back to pink!

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Ingredients :-

300 gms Chana Dal (split gram), soaked over night and wet ground to make a thick paste

½ tsp Baking powder

½ tsp Kala Jeera (Nigella seed)

5 large Potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes, half boiled, sprinkled with ½ tsp Turmeric powder and a pinch of salt.

200 gms Green Peas.

½ tsp Cumin seeds

3 green Cardamom.

3 Cinnamon sticks ( ½ inch each).

3 Cloves

2 Bay Leaves

2 dry Red Chillies

4 tsp Cumin powder

4 tsp Coriander powder.

1 ½ tsp Turmeric powder.

1 tsp Red Chilly powder.

2 tsp fresh Ginger paste.

4 tbsp Butter or Mustard oil as per liking.

Salt to taste.

Preparation :-

Mix baking powder and Nigella seed with the split gram paste and keep for ½ hour. Heat the oil in a deep pan and stir-fry the potatoes and keep aside. In the same hot oil drop the Dal paste like small balls and fry them to golden brown. 10-15 balls can be fried at a time. Reduce heat while frying the gram balls.With a slotted spoon lift out the fried gram balls and keep aside. This is called "Bari" in Bengali. Re-heat the oil and add dry red chilly and bay leaf. When the chilies turns dark, add cumin seed, cardamom, cinnamon and clove, stir fry for ½ minutes and add ginger paste. Stir well and add all the powder spices, already dissolved in 1 cup of water and stir-fry till the oil separates out. At this stage add the fried potatoes, green peas and the Bari and stir. Add 2 cups of water or more if required and cook for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally after adding salt. Take it out when the gravy is slightly thick. Before serving garnish with a tablespoon of cream and chopped coriander leaf (optional).

Goes well with white rice or Pilao.