Kathmandu Valley (Newar)
Samay Baji
Newar festive platter from the Kathmandu Valley: chiura, choila, bara and bhatmas
2 h·4 servings
black gram (urad dal)
A small pulse with a black skin and a white interior, sold whole, split or hulled; it cooks soft, creamy and slightly slippery, with an earthy flavour.
Black gram is the dried seed of a South Asian bean closely related to the mung bean, sold whole with its black skin, split with the skin on, or hulled as white halves. Cooked, it tastes earthy and robust, and above all it releases a slippery, thickening quality that makes dal creamy and gives batters for flatbreads and dumplings their light, elastic body. Whole beans need long soaking and long cooking, while hulled halves break down faster. It is found in Indian and Asian grocery shops, often labelled urad or urad dal, and by mail order.
Substitute:
Whole mung beans come closest in flavour but turn out less creamy; beluga lentils look similar but stay grainy and do not thicken. Where the slippery binding is needed for a batter there is no good substitute, because no other common pulse provides it in the same way.
Used in · 1 recipe