Indian cuisine has many dishes that are traditionally cooked and eaten in a certain way. There are set combinations of food dishes that go very well together. To be honest, for years they have been consumed that way goes to show that the combination works well. But this blog wants to encourage viewing food dishes out of their set patterns too. This is also important so that our reluctance to cook some of the seemingly difficult dishes does not come in the way of enjoying them. Case in point, ‘Daal Baati Churma’; as the name suggests, it has three key components the Daal, the Baati and Churma that are eaten as a complete meal.

Let us explore each component of this dish separately, as they work very well in different combinations and individually too.

Daal

The daal cooked for this dish is made by cooking five different daals together. It is also known as ‘Panchmel Daal’ (or a mix of 5 lentils). This dal goes very well with stuffed roti (the stuffing, for example, could be of potatoes or onion) and tandoori roti too.

Baati

Baati is originally made without any stuffing and the core ingredient is wheat. In our eBook ‘Homemade Delicacies’ we have shared the recipe of Baati stuffed with mashed potatoes mixed with spices. This works very well with the Panchmel Daal and can be eaten as is with some coriander mint chutney. In this way, the Baati can work as a snack too, for which the size of the Baati can be altered accordingly.

Lastly the dessert Churma

Churma is a good dessert option, it is best when eaten little warm. It should, in fact, be explored as a dessert aside from the usual combination of Dal Baati and Churma.

Traditional dishes especially can seem intimidating to cook, even more so if you are attempting to cook them for the first time. This example above is to illustrate, that if cooking every component seems like a task then you can make one of the things and how it works well with a different combination too. Similarly, the Aloo Sabzi in the Aloo Bedmi recipe (another traditional favourite) goes very well with regular parantha, stuffed roti too. Dahiwada although a side dish alongside meals, can be combined in a chat form and enjoyed. Makki ki roti of the famed ‘Makki ki roti and Sarson ka saag’ can be eaten as a parantha too combined with a vegetable of choice. (The recipes of all these examples are there in our eBook ‘Homemade Delicacies’ the link to which is available on our website homepage)

Cooking is creative and food brings joy, it is important to explore different ways and combinations that it can be enjoyed. Above we have shared a few examples; you can create your combinations too!

Most important thing is to let go of any hesitancy and blocks that prevent in cooking and enjoying some of the amazing food that we get to witness.

So next time you think Daal Baati Churma is a bit of a task, make any of the three components and enjoy as each of them are great dishes in themselves; just like many others that get side-lined simply because of our reluctance to explore them as is or in different combinations as per choice and convenience.

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