BENGALI CHANAR DALNA

BENGALI CHANAR DALNA / BENGALI CHANAR KOFTA CURRY

KUSUM UMASHANKAR

Chanar dalna is a simply delicious niramish (means without onion and garlic) or vegetarian cottage cheese curry of bengali cuisine. Onion and garlic are not used for making this authentic chanar dalna recipe as it’s traditionally connected with bengali’s niramish or veg kitchen.

Fresh homemade cottage cheese or chana(chenna) is the main ingredient for making this dalna recipe but not the paneer. As chana is soft in nature so it can not be cut like paneer so we can give it a flat or round shape like kofta or bora while making this dalna.

Difference between Chana and Paneer

Chhena and Paneer – Both are prepared by curdling the milk by adding lemon juice, vinegar or sour yogurt. Both are fresh cottage cheese. But the texture of Chana (Chhena) and Paneer is completely different. Chana (Chhena) is much softer and moister than Paneer. After preparing Chana (Chenna), if you put it in a muslin cloth and squeeze out the water by putting some weight on it for few hours, then the excess water would gradually get released out of it and it will become Paneer.

CHANAR BORA

INGREDIENTS

• Milk – 1 litre
• Lemon juice or vinegar – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Roasted jeera pwdr – ½ tsp
• Chilli pwdr – ½ tsp
• Salt to taste
• Maida – 1 tbsp as knead for binding [ try adding less ]
• Oil to shallow or deep fry

METHOD

Take 1 litre milk boil it .

Curdle it with either lemon juice or vinegar.

Pass it through a strainer or muslin cloth .

Take out the water completely by squeezing well ( like we do for paneer )

Transfer to a plate

Add salt , sugar,  jeera powder and chili powder .

Now add 1 or 2 tablespoons maida ( quantity of maida depends on the moisture of the chhena), try to add less maida.

Mix every thing well  and  smoothen it with the help of palm (like we do for making rasgulla)and shape as patties

Shallow fry them on medium to low flame from both the sides till golden .

Drain and keep aside .

FOR THE GRAVY

INGREDIENTS

• Potato cubes – 3 potatoes
• Tomato – 2
• Ginger – small piece
• Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
• Jeera powder – ½ tsp
• Chilli pwdr – ¾ tsp or as per taste
• Turmeric – ¼ tsp
• Oil –  1 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tsp
• Asafoetida – generous pinch
• Red chilli – 2
• Bay leaf – 2
• Salt to taste
• sugar – 1 tsp
• Water as needed
• Garam masala – ½  tsp
• Slit green chilli – 2
• Ghee – 1 tbsp

METHOD

Fry 3 – 4  potatoes in the same oil in which the bora was fried , drain and keep aside

Grind two tomatoes and a piece of ginger

Take dhania powder, jeera Powder, chilli powder and haldi in a bowl and mix with 2 tbsp water or curd .

Take oil in a pan and add jeera, hing , bay leaf and red chilli. Stir fry for few seconds .

 Add tomato paste and fry well till oil separates .

Add masala paste + salt to taste + sugar and fry everything well

Now add fried aloo and fry well.

Add 2 or 2 ½  cup water .

Cover it and cook until aloo gets  fully cooked.

 Now add chenar bora

Cover it and cook until desired consistency of the gravy .[ 2 or 3 mins ]

At the end add little ghee and little garam masala, green chillies and give a mix .

Off the flame .

The chanar balls quickly soak the gravy and make the gravy dry, so the consistency of this gravy must not be too thick.

Serve with basanti pulav or puris  or plain rice, give it a little rest after cooking for good result, very delicate,  spongy  and delicious recipe of chena which absorbs all the flavours of gravy.

It is a paneer gravy but in different way .

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