Chalta Dal

Chalta Dal is one of the very frequently cooked side dish, which is mainly prepared during the summers in every Bengali kitchen. Chalta Dal is a lentil based soup cooked with the fruit known as 'Chalta' in Bengali. Before I go to the details of my recipe today, let me brief a few points about Chalta. Chalta is basically a fruit, which is given a scientific name as Dillenia indica, and it is commonly known as elephant apple, also Indian catmon and chulta in few places. It is named as elephant apple possibly because this fruit is one of the favourites of wild elephants. Elephant apple is a herbal food used for many medicinal properties as well.

Chalta Fruit

Chalta is mainly grown in the forests or very dense moist cropping fields. We can see a lot of Chalta trees in remote places and villages. These trees are widely grown in the Southern part of Asia, especially West Bengal and Assam in India, Bangladesh, Srilanka, China, and others. I could recall a Chalta tree from one of the visits to my ancestral place, where a lot of farming used to take place around 15 years ago. The farms had many varieties of trees, and the fresh fruits were amazing. 

Edible part of the fruit

The taste and flavour of fresh chalta in the lentil soup would make you forget pizza and burger. Chalta fruit looks just like any normal tender coconut sized fruit, the outer part is green, with few layers covering the seed or flower inside. The green layers are edible and the innermost portion is non-edible. Chalta is quite hard and contains a lot of laxative property, hence before removing the layers make sure hands are greased to avoid the latex substance.

Non-edible innermost part of the fruit

Now let's talk about the recipe that I'm sharing today, as you already know the name "Chalta Dal', for this recipe two ingredients Chalta and Masoor Dal are very important. Yes, we mainly use Masoor Dal for any Chalta Dal preparation, however, it can be altered to other pulses as well, but the supreme taste is purely intact with the pink lentils itself. Therefore, this particular dish is also called as Chalta Diye Masoor Dal or Chalda or Tok Dal or in simple terms 'Chalta diye Dal or Lentil soup with Elephant apple'. Chalta dal is a very famous recipe in the Bengali culinary world and it is also cooked for almost every kitchen pujos known as 'Ranna pujo'.

Chalta fruit tastes very sour, it is a good source for mastication process because chewing chalta helps in mouth and face exercise as well as makes teeth strong, likewise also helpful in blood circulation and purification. Chalta can also be cooked as sweet and sour chutney, pickle or any regular sabji. However 'Chalta Dal' is the most popular recipe among all. Check out the full recipe with step by step pictures and instructions.

Chalta Dal

[Veg]

Author: Paromita.P

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes (approx)

Recipe Type: Lentil soup

Course: Side dish

Cuisine: Indian/Bengali

Serves: 4

Measuring Items: 1 cup=150 ml; Teaspoon (tsp); Tablespoon (tbsp)

Ingredients:

1. Chalta- 1 whole
2. Masoor Dal (pink lentils)- 1 cup
3. Onion- 1
4. Green chili- 3

Spices:

1. Mustard oil- 2 tbsp
2. Bay leaf- 1
3. Dry red mirchi- 2
4. Panch Phoron- 1 tsp
5. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
6. Cumin powder- 1 tsp
7. Coriander powder- 1 tsp
8. Salt- to taste

Method:

How to prepare ‘Chalta Dal’ with step by step pictures and instructions-

1. Soak Masoor dal in water for 1-2 hours.
   
2. Wash and remove the layers of chalta in this manner.
   
3. Now chop them into thick slices with a knife. 
   
4. This is how chalta is chopped, after chopping rinse with water again.
   
5. Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add for the seasoning with panch phoron, dry red mirchi, bay leaf, followed by finely chopped onions.
   
6. Now add the slices of chalta and simmer for 2 minutes.
   
7. Strain water from soaked masoor dal and add in the cooker, followed by turmeric, cumin, coriander powder, and salt.
   
8. Pour 1.5 cup water, cover cooker's lid and let it whistle out at least 3-4 times. Then switch off the flame and let the cooker rest for 5 minutes.
   
9. Remove the pressure followed by the lid of the cooker, switch on the flame, add green chilies.
   
10. Pour 1 cup water, bring it to boil and cook for about 5-10 minutes (adjust the amount of water here depending on how thick you want the dal)
    

Tips:

1. After chopping chalta apply a bit of turmeric powder and salt to avoid the strong sour taste on it being turned to bitter (I skipped the marination part as I cooked it immediately after chopping chalta)
2. Use 1:2 ratio of Dal:Water balance, i.e., for every 1 cup of lentil use 2 cups of water (this is the normal ratio, however water amount can be altered as I've used 1.5 cup of water)

Chalta Dal recipe in Bengali style is an utmost favourite for all us Bengali for this summer, it is a great dish to satiate the meal and beat the heat because the Dal contains antioxidant properties, helps in digestion and proper metabolism of the body. Dal and rice go hand-in-hand in every Bengali meal, it is best combined with fried badis and fish fry. Prepare this simple appetising dish to give a zing to your appetite and a strong flavour to your taste-bud in the hot weather. Enjoy cooking, serving and eating!!

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