Dal Fara Recipe

Dal Fara is a breakfast or snack food popular in North India. Dal Phara is stuffed dumplings that can be boiled or steamed and taste best with tea and some chutney. It is also called Pithi or Peetha and can be made savoury or sweet. The savoury fara is also called Namkeen Pitha, Main Fara, Bhakosa, Gojha or Pangojha. 

The dough uses whole wheat flour or atta as it is called, but adding semolina and rice flour makes it tastier. The stuffing uses lentils, vegetables, and spices. Chana dal, urid dal, moong dal and toor dal can be used individually or in a mixture. When Chana Dal or Bengal gram lentil is used individually, it is called Chana dal fara or phara.

We love Fara as breakfast or a side dish with our meal. However, we are more partial to dal phara, which is stir-fried. It uses lentils and veggies, making it easier to add protein to our plant-based food. If you like steamed food, you will love our moong dal dhokla; personally, I love pitha with Coconut Coriander Chutney.

Ingredients for Dal Fara

• Whole Wheat flour: Your everyday chakki ka atta is perfect for this recipe. 
• Semolina: Also called rava or sooji—is an optional but recommended ingredient. Using the finer rava makes the phara tastier.
• Rice flour: Again, an optional ingredient, but I recommend using it.
• Oil: I prefer to use refined sunflower oil as It is odourless.
• Lentils: The preferred ones are Channa dal or Bengal gram, but you can also use a mix of urid and toor dal. 
• Herbs and spices: Green chillies, ginger, garlic, turmeric powder, coriander seed powder or dhaniya powder, amchur powder, and garam masala (optional).
• Vegetables: Again an optinl ingredients but I will recommend adding some. You can use grated carrots, cabbage, green peas.
• Salt: to taste. 
• Water: To mix, boil or steam the fara, we need water.  

For the tempering:

• Oil: I like to use refined sunflower oil or rice bran oil. You can use an odourless, tasteless oil of your choice.
• Cumin seeds:  Jeera is the only spice we will use here.
• Herbs: Curry leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillies, salt, lemon juice, and coriander leaves finely chopped.

Making of Bhakosa

• Rinse and soak the dal.  
• Drain and coarse grind with the spices and herbs. 
• Make a soft and pliable dough with the flour. Cover and rest for about 20 minutes. 
• Divide the dough into small balls. Roll them out into round pooris about 3 inches in diameter.
• Add salt to the filling, mix well, and fold it into half like a ghujia or calzone. Seal the edges. Set aside.
• Repeat for the others.
• You can also shape the dough into small 2-inch bowls with your hand and add the filling to the bowl. 
• Seal the bowl and make a flattened disc. Set aside.
• In a pan, boil water, add the stuffed fara, and cook the fara.
• Drain out all the fara from the water and serve warm with chutney of your choice.
• Make a tempering and add the cut fara in the tempering. Stir till well coated and serve.  Here I like to add some chutney powders like Karnataka Style Chatni Pudi, Flax Seed Dry Chutney Powder, Garlic Chutney. Today I had some freshly made Drumstick Leaves Chutney Powder so I have added that.

Substitutes

• Oil: you can use ghee or clarified butter.
• If you plan to use urid dal (black gram lentil) and toor dal(pigeon pea lentil), take a proportion of 2:1:1.

Variations

• Make the sweeter version of the fara for festive occasions. The stuffing is dry fruits and the casing of rice flour and milk. In winter, this sweet version is popular during Makar Sankranti or Kali Pooja in Bengal. I plan to make it for Bhai Dooj at Diwali. It is tasty and customisable.  

Pro tips for making Dal Phara

• If you are short on time for soaking the dal or lentils, use warm water and soak them in a casserole. The dal still needs 60 minutes to soak.
• The dal will swell, so add 1 cup of extra water. You can drain it out later.
• Add salt to the filling just when you are ready to add the stuffing to the pooris. This will prevent the dal from becoming watery.
• I like to keep my filling on a sieve over a bowl. This way the water released by the salt drains out, and the filling is relatively dry.
• You can also steam the fara. The test will be when a knife inserted in the fara comes out clean. Again, 15-18 minutes are perfect.
• If steaming, do not crowd the pan.

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Pairing

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This is an old post that I am updating with newer pictures and a write-up as a part of the group Foodies_RedoingOld Post.

Summary: Traditional savoury Dal Fara is a breeze to make,uses minmal oil it is perfect for plant protein based diet. Simple and wholesome ingredients and steps make it perfect for a busy persons meal plan. Try making Savoury Pittha today and enjoy a taste of Jharkhand's culinary heritage!

Dal Fara Recipe

Enjoy Dal Fara a North Indian dumpling cooked boiled or steamed. Stuffed with lentils and veggies a perfect breakfast dish or snack.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Bhakosa, boiled, Gojha, Lentils, Main Fara, Namkeen Pitha, plant-based protein, Steamed

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Soaking time:: 8 hours hours

Total Time: 8 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 15 number

Calories:

Author: ArchanaPotdar

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Equipment

• 1 Bowl to soak and then add the ground lentils
• 1 Sieve to strain the lentils
• 1 Mixer/Grinder to grind the lentils
• 1 Knife and board to roughly chop
• 1 Mixing bowl to knead the dough
• 1 Rolling Pin and Board to roll out
• 1 Pan to boil the fara
• 1 Steamer if steaming the fara
• 1 Small bowl for oil

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 1 cup whole Wheat flour
• ½ cup semolina
• ½ cup rice flour
• 1 tablespoon oil
• water as needed

For the filling:

• ½ cup chana dal
• ¼ cup moong dal
• ¼ cup urid dal
• 2 green chilli
• 1 inch ginger
• salt to taste
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon coriander seed powder
• ¼ teaspoon amchur powder
• ⅛ teaspoon garam masala optional
• 1-½ cup mixed vegetables used carrots, cauliflower and peas

For stir-frying dal fara

• 1 tablespoon oil
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 curry leaves spring
• 1 inch ginger cut in julienne
• 3 green chilli minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• coriander leaves chopped fine
• 2 tablespoon chutney powder optional

Instructions

Pre-prep:

• Add the lentils to a big bowl and rinse it. I soak it overnight, but if you are short on time, soak it for at least 3 hours. Remember, the dal swells, so add extra water. The measure will be 3 knuckles above the dal.
  ½ cup chana dal, ¼ cup moong dal, ¼ cup urid dal

Making the filling:

• Drain the lentils on a sieve in the morning and transfer to the mixer/grinder.
• Add green chilli, ginger, coriander seed powder, turmeric, garam masala (if using) and grind to a coarse paste. Do not add water. Add the veggies to the final churn
  2 green chilli, 1 inch ginger, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon coriander seed powder, ⅛ teaspoon garam masala, 1-½ cup mixed vegetables
• Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Mixing the dough:

• Sieve the flour, add the semolina, and mix.
  1 cup whole Wheat flour, ½ cup semolina, ½ cup rice flour
• Add the oil, use warm water as needed, and knead it to a soft dough. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes. The quantity of water you will need is approximately ½ the amount of flour.
  1 tablespoon oil, water
• Add salt to the filling and mix well.
  salt

Two ways of shaping the Dal Fara:

1. Shaping like a ghujiya or calzone:

• Make small balls with the dough and roll them out to a small poori or circle about 3 inches in diameter.
• Add a tablespoon of the filling on the poori, a little off-centre.
• Fold the other half of the poori press edges together and seal it. These look like calzones or ghujiya.
• Transfer to a tray.
• Roll out and shape the rest of the dough similarly.

Shaping like a Bati:

• Lightly oil your hand, and using a small piece of the dough, shape it into a bowl about 2 inches in diameter.
• Place 1 teaspoon of the filling and seal the edges, making a small ball.
• Press down the ball to a flat disc.

Cooking the Dal Fara:

• To boil the fara In a deep vessel, boil about 2-½ litres of water.
• Add the pitha and cook flipping occasionally for about 15 minutes when the water comes to a rolling boil.
• Drain and set aside on a sieve to drain all water.

Steaming the Dal Fara:

• Set up your steamer and bring the water to a boil.
• Grease the sieve lightly with oil and place the pitha on the sieve.
• Steam the pita for 15-20 minutes.
• The test is for a knife inserted in the pitha to come out clean.
• Set aside to cool. You can serve these pitha with green chutney on the side.

Tempering the Dal Fara:

• Cut the cooled pitha into 2 parts.
• Heat oil in a kadhai and splutter the cumin seeds.
  1 tablespoon oil, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• Add the curry leaves, green chillies, ginger, and the cooked pitha.
  1 curry leaves, 3 green chilli, 1 inch ginger
• Add some salt, amchur powder and the dry chutney powder, if using. stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the pitha is covered with the masala.
  ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon chutney powder, ¼ teaspoon amchur powder
• Transfer to a plate and squeeze the lemon juice.
  1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Serve hot with chai and enjoy.