Discard water from chana dal. Transfer Dal into pressure cooker along with 1 and a 1/2 cups of water. Add salt and turmeric powder. Let the pressure release 1 time on high flame and then turn the flame low. Cook for 3-4 minutes and remove the cooker from the stove. The Dal is perfectly cooked if it's broken and soft, but not mushy and pulpy.
Heat oil in a pan, crackle jeera, add asafoetida, turmeric and dhaniya jeera powder. Fry for a second or two and then add ginger-chilli, fry a bit. Now add tomatoes and chilli powder. Mix everything together, cover and cook till tomatoes are soft.
Mash the tomatoes slightly using a spoon. Add boiled chana dal with it's water and salt. Stir lightly. You may add a little water if it looks too thick. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add garam masala in boiling Dal, mix well and remove it from heat.
Mix all the ingredients for pakwan and make stiff dough. Cover and keep aside for 20 minutes. Make 12 balls. Roll thin Puris, make cuts on them.
Fry puris evenly on medium to low flame till they are light brown and crispy. Pakwans are ready.
Serving suggestion 1 : take a pakwan(Puri) in a plate, spread a layer of Dal on it, sprinkle some chopped onions, some sweet and green chutneys. Top it up with sev and chopped coriendar leaves. Sprinkle some chat masala and serve immediately.
Serve pakwan with Dal along with the accompaniments.
Tip : maintain the disc shape of pakwans while frying by pressing it lightly wherever doom is seen. It is an important step to avoid uneven colouring and doom as seen in pics 2 and 3.
I won 3rd prize for this recipe in Dal and Curry contest. This is the gift I got.
