Dal ka Fara

by Saransh Goila

This is a dish from Uttar Pradesh that I discovered while doing a social media campaign of 74 new dishes from across India. I asked people to send me suggestions and this one came from the writer and columnist Sangeeta Khanna.

Ingredients: For the dough: 2 cups whole wheat flour; 2 tbsp fine semolina; ½ tsp salt; ¼ tsp cumin powder;1 cup warm water for kneading. For the stuffing: 2 cups chana dal; 2 inch ginger; 6-8 cloves garlic; pinch of hing; 2-3 green chillies; 1 tsp black pepper powder; ½ tsp garam masala; 1 tsp cumin; salt to taste

Method: For the stuffing, soak chana dal for 3-4 hrs. Drain and grind with stuffing spices and ginger-garlic. Add water ¼ tsp at a time, making sure you don’t overdo it; keep the stuffing thick (you shouldn’t need more than 1 tbsp water at most).

For the dough: Mix flour and semolina well. Add salt, cumin and mix well again. Add warm water and gradually knead into a medium dough. Set aside for half an hour. Now prepare the gujiyastyle fara. Take a golf-sized dough ball, roll it into a small thin circle, roughly the size of a poori. Place a couple of spoons of stuffing at the centre. Fold one side over the other, pressing the curved edges but leaving the two end corner sides slightly open to help the stuffing cook.

In a pot, season water with salt, add 1 tsp oil and bring to boil as you’d do for pasta. On medium flame, slide fara in. Let cook uncovered for 12 mins. Serve hot. You can also stir-fry fara in ghee with kari patta, rai.