Bhaja Muger Dal

the Bengali roasted mung dal: split moong dry-roasted in a bare pan until it smells of toasted nuts, then boiled loose and tempered with whole cumin, bay, and dried chilli

Origin: India

From the journey of Mung Bean.

Every mung-eating region boils the bean. Bengal roasts it first, and that single step is what separates the Bengali dal from every other dal in the subcontinent. The split hulled moong is turned in a dry, heavy pan over a low flame until it colours to pale honey and gives off a smell closer to toasted nuts than to a pulse, and only then is it washed and cooked. The roasting does two things at once: it drives off the raw, faintly grassy note of plain moong and replaces it with a deep nuttiness, and it firms the outside of each grain so that the dal cooks loose and separate instead of collapsing to the smooth purée that a north Indian moong dal dhuli becomes in twenty minutes. The result is thinner, clearer, and altogether more fragrant than its western cousin, and the two are not interchangeable at the table. Where it sits in the meal is Bengali too. A Bengali meal is eaten in courses rather than all at once, and the dal comes early, after the bitter dish and before the fish, poured over rice and eaten with a fried vegetable such as begun bhaja alongside. It is normally seasoned with a pinch of sugar, which Bengal applies to savoury food with a confidence that startles the rest of India, and finished with a spoonful of raw ghee stirred in off the heat. The same roasted dal is the foundation of bhoger khichuri, cooked with the small, fragrant gobindobhog rice and offered at the Durga Puja pandal, where it is distributed as prasad in quantities running to many thousands of servings; on those October days it is very likely the most widely eaten mung dish on earth.

Ingredients

Dal

200 g moong dal (split hulled yellow mung beans)
1 litre water, plus a little more to let it down
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
15 g fresh ginger, finely grated
2 whole green chillies, slit lengthways
1.25 tsp fine salt, or to taste
1 tsp sugar

Tempering

2 tbsp ghee, or mustard oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 whole dried red chillies
2 whole Indian bay leaves (tej patta)

To Finish

1 tbsp ghee, raw, to stir in at the end
1 handful coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

Method

Put the dry dal into a heavy pan over a medium-low heat, with no fat and no water, and turn it constantly with a spatula for 6 to 8 minutes until it has coloured to a pale honey gold and smells strongly of toasted nuts. Tip it immediately onto a cold plate.
Rinse the cooled dal quickly in two or three changes of cold water and drain. Put it in a pan with the litre of water, the turmeric, the ginger, and the slit green chillies, bring to the boil, skim, then simmer partly covered for 20 to 25 minutes.
Add the salt and the sugar and simmer for a further 2 minutes. The dal should be distinctly pourable, closer to a thick soup than to a spoonable dal; let it down with hot water if it has tightened.
Heat the ghee in a small pan until it shimmers. Add the bay leaves and dried chillies for a few seconds until they darken, then the cumin seeds, and wait for the cumin to sizzle and take a shade of colour, which takes 15 to 20 seconds. Pour the whole tempering over the dal and put the lid on for a minute.
Stir the tempering through, then stir in the raw ghee off the heat and scatter with coriander if using. Serve early in the meal, over plain rice, with a fried vegetable alongside.

Notes

Use moong dal, the split hulled yellow bean, and not urad (Vigna mungo, black gram), which is a different species, cooks to a slimy mucilage, and will not roast in the same way. Roasted dal keeps well, so many Bengali households roast half a kilo at a time and store it in a jar, which reduces the dish to an ordinary weeknight dal; shop-bought bhaja muger dal is sold ready roasted in Kolkata and is entirely acceptable. The variations are regional and domestic. Some cooks add a short cinnamon stick and two or three green cardamom pods to the tempering, which pushes it towards the festival version; some add cubes of fried potato or cauliflower to the simmering dal, making it substantial enough to be the meal; and a Bangladeshi version leans on mustard oil rather than ghee and drops the sugar. Where coconut is used, and it often is in the Puja version, it goes in as small fried cubes or a spoonful of grated coconut added with the salt. The same roasted dal, cooked down with gobindobhog rice, ginger, and whole spices until thick, is bhoger khichuri. It keeps three days refrigerated, thickens considerably, and should be let down with hot water and given a fresh tempering when reheated rather than simply warmed through.

The Gastrographer

Name: Bhaja Muger Dal
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 200 g moong dal (split hulled yellow mung beans); 1 litre water, plus a little more to let it down; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 15 g fresh ginger, finely grated; 2 whole green chillies, slit lengthways; 1.25 tsp fine salt, or to taste; 1 tsp sugar; 2 tbsp ghee, or mustard oil; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 2 whole dried red chillies; 2 whole Indian bay leaves (tej patta); 1 tbsp ghee, raw, to stir in at the end; 1 handful coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control