Methi Paatal bhaaji – Tangy sweet and Spicy Methi daal

This is the bhaaji we have grown up eating at my mom’s house quite regularly. This is not your typical spicy tangy South Indian style daal, it also has the sweet touch to it. The bitter taste of methi is transformed into this chatpata bhaaji which goes equally well with chapatis, bhakri( Jowar rotis) as well as rice.

When eating paatal bhaji with roti or chapatis, we do eat it with onion and crunchy spicy and flavoured“Menthe menashinakayi” translated to Fenugreek flavoured Chillies. These are Karnataka variant of Majjiga mirapakayalu. Green chillies are slit and filled with a thin spread of – Roasted and ground fenugreek powder, hing and salt — mix and sun dried for few days. These are then fried in oil like papads n savouries.

I have used fresh methi leaves from my garden, hence had added few tender stalks too. For store bought ones which have thicker stems, you may use just the leaves.

Let us jump to the recipe now.

Ingredients

1. Methi Leaves – 1 small/medium bunch.
2. Toor daal – 1 cup
3. Bengal gram / Chana daal – 1/4 Cup
4. Peanuts – 2-3 tbsp
5. Fenugreek – few grains
6. Tamarind – Pulp of a small lemon sized ball soaked in water
7. Jaggery –  Powdered or chopped-2 Spoons
8. Salt – Per taste
9. Chilly powder – Per spice levels.
10. Gram flour/ Besan – 1 tbsp
11. For Seasoning
    1. Oil – 2-3 Tbsp
    2. Mustard – 1/2 tsp
    3. Urad daal – 1 tsp
    4. Dried red chillies – 1 -2
    5. Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
    6. Hing – 1 pinch

Process

1. Take toor daal, chana daal, peanuts and fenugreek seeds in a bowl.
2. Wash the daal couple of times and add sufficient water ( 2-3 glasses) and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
3. Clean and chop methi leaves and keep them aside.
4. Take oil in a pan and once hot add urad daal and mustard. Once these start crackling, add red chillies, turmeric and hing.
5. Now add chopped methi leaves and fry for a minute.
6. Add salt, chilly powder, tamarind pulp and jaggery.
7. Let this come together.
8. Now add the cooked daal and add a glass of water.
9. Let this boil. Now make a thin paste of water and besan and add this into daal mixing continuously to avoid forming any lumps.
10. Let the daal cook for 3 – 4 more minutes. Now transfer the daal to a serving bowl.

Notes:

1. Instead of cooking peanuts with daal, in case you like them crunchy and hard, then fry the peanuts in oil and add it on top when you had transferred the daal to serving bowl.
2. You can also fry onion along with peanuts make them golden brown and add as topping.