I once battled meal worms and moths in my kitchen for well over a year. In the end I threw away many grocery bags full of food, much as I hated to do so. My cupboards, from that point on, became storage receptacles for storage receptacles. Tupperware style containers were the solution, and any remaining foods with eggs were contained in airtight plastic, making it easy for me to eliminate any further pests without them contaminating more food stuffs.
The point I'm getting at is I have a lot of plastic tubs. A whole lot. So many, in fact, that there's just not room for me to buy new stuff. This means when a variety of grain or pulse is running low, I try to use it up in order to make space for another that is waiting for its new sealed home. I discovered the chana dal in the way back of the stack, and decided it was time to make space for some Israeli couscous, so this recipe was hence born. So as promised, here's a recipe for chana dal cutlets!
Chana Dal Cutlets with Yoghurt and Garlic Masala Pickle
This is a re-worked version of a simple old recipe that needed some touch ups. These cutlets can also be made into burgers and are delicious eaten with a squeeze of lemon juice, plus a dollop or seven of vegan yoghurt and some garlic pickle. Don’t forget the onion – it’s only a small addition, but makes a difference. If you want to make these into a burger, a little mango chutney on the bun won’t go amiss!
- 100 grams (½ cup) chana dal, soaked for a few hours
- 60 grams (⅔ cup) fine dried okara
- 250 grams (2 cups) vital wheat gluten
- 30 grams (¼ cup) chickpea (gram) flour
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida
- 1 ¾ teaspoons table salt
- 475 millilitres (2 cups) very cold water
- Plenty of vegetable oil, for frying
- Unsweetened vegan yoghurt
- Garlic masala pickle
- Freshly sliced red onion and lemon
- Fresh coriander (optional)
- Strain and rinse soaked chana dal and simmer for about 12 minutes, or until tender (but not mushy). Strain away excess water and leave to cool.
- Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and then stir in the cold water. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes, until it begins to spring back into itself when you make a dent with your fist.
- Divide the dough into 6 pieces and firmly press into approximate 5 inch rounds (¼-½ inch thickness). Some bits of the dough may fall apart, but don’t worry too much about losing the odd dal.
- Heat a skillet to a medium heat and add a glug of oil. Cook each cutlet for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until slightly browned. Add more oil as necessary.
- Serve hot or cold with freshly squeezed lemon juice, yoghurt, garlic pickle, and sliced red onion.
- Author: Kip Dorrell
- Makes: 6-7
- Cuisine: Indian Fusion
tokyovegan says
Hi, Kit.
First of all, let me say I love your Okara meatloaf recipe, and eat it a couple times a week.
I have been waiting to make your Dal cutlets for months, and finally had an occasion to tonight when a very good friend (thank goodness) visited.
Unfortunately, I think there is something seriously wrong with your recipe! I followed it to the letter, but it was more like soup than cutlets. I doubled the okara, the besan, dal and okara to try to obtain cutlet consistency, but still like soup. I lost count of how much besan and gluten I eventually added, and still was more like glop than cutlets! We made something like an omelet, and it was as heavy as a discus. Can you please double check the recipe and pray tell how to make the cutlets as in the photo above!
Regards,
William
Kip says
Oh no! I'm so sorry it didn't work and that you spent time and ingredients preparing something which didn't turn out. I'll definitely double check the recipe sometime in the week.
I'm working on some more okara recipes, too, but I'll be sure to be extra careful when writing the recipes down!
tokyovegan says
Thanks, Kip. In hindsight, I should have known all that broth wouldn't have been absorbed, or at least added a little at a time. Looking forward to hearing back from you.
William
Kip says
Hey William, I just had a fiddle with the recipe this morning and this seems to work. You also made me think about the possibilities in quantity error based on differential liquid content in any person's batch of okara, so I re-worked the recipe with a dried variety. The only additional ingredient is a bit of asafoetida, which isn't completely necessary but is always nice with chana dal.
I also tried deep frying the patties (and little "meat"balls of the mixture also) with pretty good results!
tokyovegan says
Thanks, Kip.
That looks right. By the way, fortunately, the previous recipe didn't go to waste. Eventually the dough firmed up enough to form cutlets and I made 12, in addition to the "omelet" we ate the first night. 7 dinners in total! Any particular sauce you can recommend for them?
Willam
Kip says
I have to be honest and admit that I've either just had them with some sort of fancy rice or just in a burger style fashion (so ketchup). Classy, I know. I'd say a good chutney!
Paquita says
I am HAPPY to find a use for Okara, as my other experiences have been on the bad side of horrid and I usually opt to compost. And of course Chana Dal is AMAZING!
I just discovered Anupy Singla’s “The Indian Slow Cooker” book which is mostly vegan or easily vegan adaptable and they are SIMPLE! She uses dried beans, unsoaked and most of the recipes you dump everything in at once and push the button. A couple have you cook the mustard seeds, etc…on the stove at the end but SO EASY!!
I have some of my totally NOVICE experience with slow cooker and Indian food written about at http://www.getskinnygovegan.blogspot.com
But you might LOVE this book!! I stumbled upon it upon accident because I only look in the vegan book sections.
I_Fortuna says
This is a great recipe and I see no reason why it would be soupy but if you have that problem add potato flakes or rice flour or just regular corn or wheat flour. My okara is always very wet so I would not add the broth. I love dal and this is the way I can get picky hubby to eat it. He hates bean but loves bean milk and recipes made with okara. I have all these ingredients except the dal! So, I will probably use something else. We live in a small town in Texas and certain foods I have to order online even soy beans. Thanks for this great recipe ! : )
Roothy says
I think maybe the trouble is that you don't say to cook the chana in the broth, but you are actually supposed to? The recipe says to mix everything together and knead--but the recipe also just says the chana is supposed to be "soaked" (not cooked). Then at the end you note how useful pressure cookers are... presumably to cook that chana? Anyway, I'm about to make this, but am apprehensive re: using uncooked chana as the recipe (seems to) call for...
Kip says
Hi Roothy,
Thank you for pointing out the inaccuracies in my writing. I'm marking the recipe as under revision and will look to fixing it when I am back in the UK in a few weeks.
Roothy says
Well, I did decide to cook the chana first. And the recipe was DELICIOUS--huge hit. I served it over brown rice, with raita and tamarind chutney. The only "bad" thing about the recipe is that as written, it's about 225 calories for EACH cutlet (making 12). That's because of all the oil--no surprise. I ended up using about a quarter of a cup of oil in the pan to get them all cooked and crisped on the outside. It's probably also partly why it was so delicious! I'm definitely going to make this again--but I'm going to dry to do it with almost no oil, in a nonstick pan, and see if they are still good. Another alternative is to stick them in a really, really hot oven and try to bake them. Anyway--if you don't care about calories, I highly recommend this recipe. And if you *do* care about calories, try to make it with almost no oil.
A.J. says
Still under revision? The picture looks amazing--I'm dying to know the recipe.
Kip says
Sorry, A.J. I'm out of the country until December and I haven't had the time! I put the recipe under revision because a few people had issues, but if you read the comments I think you will find ways to correct if the recipe doesn't work (it is still available, just greyed out). Thanks.
Kip says
Hi A.J.
I finally got a chance to update the recipe! As mentioned in comments above, the liquid content was far too high. Apologies to all for posting a poorly written recipe and for taking so long to update it. Thanks for all of the comments.
Eva Brunner says
I cannot find Okara locally. What can I substitute for it? Thank you.
Kip says
Hi Eva,
I have only ever made this using okara, but I expect you could use mashed beans or soaked fine TVP granules...
I reserve the right to improve malicious and trollish comments.