Borar Jhal

Borar Jhal is a very flexible recipe not to mention a tasty one indeed. "Bora" means deep fried patties. I have used moong lentils to prepare the boras which can be made using other sorts of lentils like masoor or red lentil, chana dal or split Bengal gram and even with a random mix of two or three types of lentils. The process of making the lentil paste also follows the same procedure as described below, irrespective of the type of lentil used - soaking overnight and then grinding them until smooth.

You can fry the boras and then serve them as it is with chutney or sauce; or you may choose to cook a curry with them just like me.

Ingredients:                                         Cooking time: 1 hour approx. ü  150 gm moong lentil (soaked overnight and then ground into fine paste) ü  1 large potato (diced and parboiled) ü  2 small onions ü  5-6 green chillies  ü  1 tsp ginger paste ü  1 tomato (chopped) ü  1 tsp cumin powder ü  1 tsp coriander powder ü  1 tsp turmeric powder ü  1 tsp kashmiri red mirch ü  1 tsp sugar ü  Salt to taste ü  1/2 tsp nigella seeds (for saute) ü  Few sprigs of coriander leaves ü  White oil for cooking Method: 1) Add 1 cup of water to the ground lentil and stir it into a smooth consistency. Chop one onion and 2 green chillies coarsely. Toss them into the lentil paste, add salt and mix. Keep the mixture aside for 10 minutes. 2) Then taking a spoonful of mixture in your hand, shape and flatten them into the size of round patties. Deep fry in smoking hot oil. Keep aside. 3) Grind the remaining onion and green chillies into a paste. 4) Heat oil in a wok. When oil turns hot, fry the potato and take them off the flame. 5) Into the same oil, add nigella seeds and allow them to sputter. Add the onion paste and sauté till onion turns translucent. Add tomatoes and coriander leaves. Cook again, stirring intermittently, till tomatoes soften. 6) Add ginger paste, cumin powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and kashmiri red mirch. Sauté till the spices assimilate into the curry. Season the taste with salt and sugar. 7) Add sufficient water (about 1 cup) to make gravy and bring it to a boil. (The lentil patties anyway will absorb all the gravy.) 8) Toss back the potatoes into the gravy. Simmer away for couple of minutes till potatoes are tender. 9) Slide in the lentil patties. Turn off the heat and keep the curry covered for 2 minutes. 10) Serve hot with chapati, roti or rice.