A great diabetic food: Chana Dal fry-Instant Pot Recipe
I took a break from blogging in the last few weeks, as I was going through some changes in my professional life and a huge change in my family life. My husband has been officially diagnosed as Diabetic. He was pre-diabetic for a long time. But he was able to resist it for many years by playing cricket and other sports.
My husband is a big foodie. He not only enjoys food, he is the best critic of my cooking. Now I have a big responsibility of cooking diabetes-friendly, tasty food for him. He is measuring his blood sugar after two hours of eating lunch and dinner to find out how his blood sugar is fluctuating based on the food he is eating.
Here is our first discovery. Chana Dal, also known as Gram Dal (or Chholar dal in Bengal, the part of India I am from) is very good food for controlling blood sugar. I cooked Chana dal fry, a spicy, tasty dal recipe to have with whole wheat roti (homemade Indian Bread) and it did the magic to bring the blood sugar down to a great extent. For Chana dal, even though two-thirds of the calories come from the carb, the glycemic index for chana dal is only 8%, whereas the glycemic index for garbanzo bean is 36%.
Health facts of Chana Dal
- Chana dal has very low glycemic index of 8%
- Cooked chana dal is rich in Folate, Vitamin B9 or Folic acid which helps our body to produce red blood cells.
So here is my favorite one pot recipe of Chana dal using Instant Pot. First, wash the chana dal and let it soak for a few minutes if possible. Usually, as I am in rush most of the time, I do not get the time to soak the dal. So it is ok if you do not get the time to soak the dal, you just have to pressure cook it for a longer time. Cut the onion, tomato and grate the ginger, garlic. Now you are ready to start cooking chana dal fry.
Chana dal Fry Ingredients
It is time to have your instant pot ( or any pressure cooker) ready for cooking. Turn on the instant pot in sauté mode, add ghee and the seasonings – cumin seeds, dried red chili. Once the spices start to sizzle, add onion, ginger, garlic, tomato and sauté it for a couple of minutes. After that add the powdered spices – cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder and sauté it for a couple of minutes. Add soaked dal, water, sugar, and salt and close the instant pot. I added 2 cups of water for 1 cup of chana dal and let it cook in high pressure for 5 minutes. If the dal does not get completely boiled, then put the instant pot in high pressure for a few more extra minute.
At the end add kasuri methi and let it stand for a couple of minutes before serving with roti or rice.
Chana Dal Fry Recipe Steps
Chana Dal Fry Recipe Steps
Priya Banerjee
Yields 4
Chana dal, very good food for regulating blood sugar has the lowest possible glycemic index. This flavorful, spicy chana dal instant recipe is a great meal for anybody with or without diabetes
5 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
15 minTotal Time
Save Recipe4 based on 1 review(s)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chana daal
- 1.5 tablespoon ghee
- 1/8 teaspoon hing (asafetida)
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seed
- 1 dried red chili
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 2 small green cardamom
- 100 gm onion (half onion)
- 100 gm tomato (1 tomato)
- 1/2 tablespoon ginger paste
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar (or 1/8 teaspoon of artificial sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi
- 2 cups of water
- 2 tablespoon of ghee
Instructions
- Turn on the Instant pot in sauté mode and add ghee
- As the ghee heats up add hing (asafetida), cumin seed, dried red chili, cinnamon stick, green cardamom
- As the spices start to sizzle, add onion, ginger, garlic and fry it for 2 minutes
- Add tomato and fry it for one minute.
- Add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder.
- Add salt and sugar (or artificial sweetener)
- Add water and close the lid of the instant pot.
- Set the Instant pot to high pressure and 5 minute
- After 5-minute pressure cooking is done, release the pressure from Instant pot and open the instant pot.
- Add additional water, salt if needed
- Add Kasuri methi and let it sit for couple of minutes.
- The dal is ready to serve with roti or rice.
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
Notes:
- You can add extra ghee at the end. It always tastes good with the flavor of ghee.
- This is a good recipe for serving in Indian lunch or dinner parties. You can spice it up with more red chili powder as needed
- I use a little bit of sweetness in my cooking to balance out the taste. But it is completely optional to add the sweetness.
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