Darbari Dal

Darbari Dal

Recently, dals have been my saviour considering life is getting more and more demanding and tiring. As always, I stick to cooking fresh food everyday and eating hot meal atleast for dinner. It usually is roti and a side dish. The only down side with dal, as I see it is that it is not always rich in vegetables. Having said that, dal itself is one of your five a day food so very well having them everyday. I like to add atleast onion and tomatoes to them to make their nutritive value better. Half an onion is part of one of five a day vegetables, so that is easy. Most of the times, I also add other vegetables like courgettes, green papaya, ash gourd, ridge gourd etc. One evening though, I was a bit bored of all of these and decided to try something from Tarla Dalal’s website and what a brilliant attempt it was! I tried darbari dal and was a bit sceptical about the result because it did not look like there was anything out of the ordinary in it. I was very wrong, the innocent lentils literally transformed to flavour bombs. In addition to the ground  masala, what I learned from this dish was what a spoon of milk and yogurt could do to an ordinary dal. Infact, I have made this practise common now and add a dash of both to most dals I make. Do not over do, else the dal will start tasting like payasam (dessert), learn from my experience!! The original recipe calls for cream but I used milk and still it was great. This dish is fit for special occasions as well and not just a mundane evening. Here is the recipe…

1/3 cup  masoor dal

1/3 cup moong dal

2 tbsp toovar dal

1 tbsp ghee
1/3 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
3 green chillies slit
1/2 tbsp ginger paste
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
2 tbsp yogurt, beaten
2 tbsp milk

1 tsp cumin seeds

Cooking oil

Heat a pressure pan, add some ghee and some oil, heat and add cumin seeds, followed by onions, ginger paste, dried fenugreek leaves and green chillies

Saute until onion begins to change colour and add tomatoes and all spice powder and salt and sauté for 3-5 minutes so raw smell goes away

Add rinsed and drained dal, two glasses of water and pressure cook for about 4 whistles

Open the pressure pan and add milk and yogurt and bring to boil

Garnish with some coriander leaves and serve hot

Kaali Dal (black gram curry)

Kaali Dal

Dal is comfort food for many Indians, atleast in my mind. They are a wonderful source of low fat protein. For some reason I quite like the looks and taste of the urd dal with skin. I have also noticed there is quite a bit of difference in taste and aroma between the one with skin and without it. To me, the one without skin is meant for idli, dosa, vada or tadka but the black one can feature in side dish for rice or rotis. Anyway, I am meant to rest but got woken up by my little one’s terrible cough and thought I might as well post a recipe while sipping hot tulasi tea. Here you go...

½ cup black gram (urd dal with skin), rinsed and soaked for atleast 2-3 hours

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, pureed

Turmeric powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon chilly powder

Small piece of ginger, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon garam masala

Little butter and some oil

3 green chillies, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Heat a pressure pan and add oil. Once hot, add the onions, green chillies and sauté until it turns pink

Add tomatoes, ginger, garlic and cook until it comes together and then add all the spice powders and cook until raw smell goes. It is important that all raw smell goes away else it will remain even after the dish is complete as it will be cooked covered in the next step

Add the dal, salt and about 1.5 cups of water (make sure there is about an inch of water above the dal) and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles

Serve hot with rice or any Indian bread

Kadappa

Kadappa

I was planning on making  a new variety of dosa and was sure I did not want a chutney to go with it. As it was the first time I was making this type of dosa, I wanted to make sure I have an interesting side dish. I know, trialing to dishes in one meal is a bit of risk but that occurred to me only after I made both of them. I looked for side dish for dosa on google and came across lots of familiar dishes. One dish stood out though – Kumbakonam kadappa. Kumbakonam is the town from which my father and father-in-law hail from. I have been to the place so many times and never once have I heard of this dish. Ofcourse, every time we went there we will go for just the same restaurant which served more of the Brahmin food and I am guessing kadappa id not fit that category. Anyway, I was a bit disappointed that I had no idea about this dish and wanted to try this. Result was awesome. Such a simple dish with simple flavours and it went very well with dosa. It had just a touch of coconut, touch of the aniseed flavour, little ehat from the chillies and very slight tartness from the tomato. It was wonderful! I think this is a great side dish for rotis, rice, idlis, dosa, idiapam and even puttu. For a western palatte, this could make a great meal on its own as it has protein, carbohydrates and other vitamins. Here you go...

2 medium potatoes or 1 large, boiled well

¼ cup mung dal, well cooked

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 bay leaves and a cinnamon stick

4 teaspoons coconut (I used dessicated)

Dash of caraway seeds (use more if you like aniseed flavour)

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

1 onion, sliced thinly

3 green chillies, slit

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

1 tomato, cubed

Salt to taste

Cooking oil (coconut oil preferably)

Heat some oil in a heavy bottom pan and add the bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and mustard seeds. Allow seeds to crackle

Add the onions and sauté for couple of minutes

Add the ginger garlic paste and green chillies and cook till raw smell goes

Crush the potatoes by hand and add. Add the tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the mashed dal and some water and required salt

Allow to boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes but make sure it does not burn. You could add more water if needed. Dal and potatoes are thickeners so the dish will thicken as it cools.

Grind the caraway seeds, coconut and poppy seeds with required water and add it to the mixture and boil for couple of minutes. Serve!

Pepper Dal

Pepper Dal

Dal is not one of my favourite side dish for roti mainly because I find it a bit bland and boring. However, my husband likes a simple tadka dal with rotis. Depending on how much time I have in the morning, I may exclude lentil in our lunch and on such days I add it to our dinner menu. One such day, it was on the menu but I was also considering an extra dish to spice things up. How easily i forgot I had a baby at home! Long story short, I had no time and had to rush. Then, bingo, I thought it aubergines in mung dal worked quite well, why will capsicum/pepper in tuvar dal not work. So that’s how I created this dish and I must say that this is the best dal dish that I have ever had. We were literally scraping the dish as we could not get enough of it! How much flavour a cooking process like charring can add is really surprising. Now to the recipe...

½ cup tuvar dal, pressure cooked

1 large green pepper

1 large red pepper

1 onion, finely chopped

½ tomato, cubed

1 teapsoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon dhansak masala or garam masala

Handful of coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder

4 cloves garlic, chopped

Char the peppers in direct flame, cool and peel them. Chop roughly and keep aside (sorry, no pic of that)

Heat some oil, add cumin seeds and once brown add onions and garlic. Fry until it just starts to brown

Add the peppers and tomatoes and fry until tomato is just cooked

Add coriander powder, turmeric powder and dhansak masala powder, salt

Add cooked dal and some water and simmer for about five minutes. Make sure there is enough water and bear in mind that it will become thicker as it cools down

Add chopped coriander leaves and serve with fresh rotis/chapatti or rice

Aubergine in Dal

Aubergine in Dal

Regular readers of my blog may remember that I had bought a couple of ayurvedic cook books. Oh, don’t worry that does not mean I will use ingredients you have not heard of or cannot find in regular shops. I was looking for everyday recipes which have the ingredients combined based on ayurvedic guidelines. One of the books I bought certainly lives upto that requirement. I was flipping through its pages after a long time and came across this aubergine in dal recipe. I am not a fan of regular dal simply because it is too simple and can be plain, especially when made for my husband as he does not like hot food. However, this dal recipe sounded interesting because it also had aubergine, a good veggie included thereby boosting our vegetable intake and the fact that we char it and use it imparts so much flavour to the dish. Although i have not used any chilly powder but just had lot more red chillies than suggested in the recipe, the flavours came through very well and was actually better than hot food. This certainly is a keeper especially considering I get Spanish aubergines more readily than baby eggplants. I used ginger instead of garlic as some folks at home do not take garlic. Here is the recipe, it will serve 2-3. The book recommends that we cook in ghee, I used a little bit oil along with ghee. The tempering with cumin and red chilly was my addition, you could skip it if you want.

1 large aubergine, charred and skin peeled

1/3 cup moong dal, well cooked

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 ½ teaspoon  coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

3-5 dry red chillies

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ginger

Handful of coriander leaves, chopped

Ghee/oil

Heat some ghee/oil and add dry red chillies, onion and ginger. Cook until soft

Mix the spice powders in some water and add this to the onion. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are mushy

Add the aubergine. I charred it, peeled and cut it into chunks, little water, salt and cook for couple of minutes

Add cooked mung dal, salt and simmer

Heat little ghee in a small pan and add cumin seeds and dry red chillies and add to this dal mixture. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve

Sundakai Paruppu Kadaisal (Turkey Berry Dal)

Sundakai Paruppu Kadaisal


One of the many gems used in Indian cuisine is sundakai a.k.a turkey berry. Many would have seen it in dried form in many Indian grocery shops. I had only seen it once in the fresh form before I moved out of India. After that, I saw it recently in an Indian food shop here and was delighted so just grabbed a small quantity. These berries are quite commonly used in ayurvedic treatments I am told. It has medicinal properties that make it great to treat phlegm, mucus and cough. It is capable of helping the body get rid of bacterial infestation of the stomach making it very good for the digestive system. It is said to help cure night blindness by strengthening the nerves. Its bitter taste helps kill worms in the gut. While there are a good few recipes one can dish out with dried berries, I noticed there were far fewer recipes using fresh berries. Here is one for you...

1 cup green turkey berries
½ cup toor dal
½ teaspoon tamarind extract
10 pearl onions
1 tomato
Turmeric powder
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
3-4 dry red chillies
Asafoetida
Cooking oil
Curry leaves

Wash and smash the turkey berries so their seeds come out. Smear turmeric powder so they do not become dark

Bring together, chopped tomato, about 5 pearl onions (smashed lightly), toor dal, couple of dry red chillies, add required water and pressure cook well so they can be mashed

Mash this mixture

In the meantime, heat little oil and add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add asafoetida, dry red chillies,pearl onions and sauté briefly

Add tamarind extract, little water and required salt (enough for the turkey berries and dal mixture). You could add little chilly powder at this stage if desired

Add this to the mashed dal, mix well and serve!

Shahi Dal

Shahi Dal


Here is another recipe that started off with one intent and ended up being something else. Well, I had bookmarked shahi dal from Tarla Dalal’s website. I did not quite get whether I was meant to use whole urd with skin or broken with skin. I chose the former as I had a small pack to be used up and every little helps empty my pantry. I had soaked about half a cup of the dal for almost 24 hours as I did not get around to the kitchen that day and ended up eating at a friend’s place. The next day I had to use these up but did not get to look at the recipe just before starting as my husband was already starving after a shopping trip we made. I vaguely remembered the ingredients and method and just put it together as I thought was appropriate. Result – a really yummy dal with subtle yet rich flavours and packed with nutrition. I quickly made rotis to eat with this dal and we polished the dish clean! I was a bit unsure if my husband would like it but he loved it. This certainly is a keeper. Here is how I made it…

½ cup black gram with skin, rinsed and soaked overnight
1 small piece ginger, crushed/chopped
½ teaspoon chilly powder
¼ teaspoon garam masala (about ½ teaspoon if using store bought)
2 pinches kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
3 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
¼ cup ground almonds/blanched almond flakes
4 cardamom pods
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Turmeric powder
1 cup milk
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon butter
Cooking oil

Cook the dal with milk and ginger and add little water to it if needed. Pressure cooking would be ideal so it can be mashed once done (forgot a picture for this!)

Heat the butter along with some oil and add cumin seeds. Once it browns, add the onions and fry until golden

Add the tomatoes, little salt and cook until mushy

If using blanched almonds flakes, grind together the almonds and cardamom. If using ground almond, crush the cardamom alone. If soaking almonds and using, then grind to paste with cardamom. Add the almond and cardamom mixture

 Add the cooked and mashed dal, required salt, chilly powder, kasoori methi and garam masala and little water (could add any liquid left over from cooking the dal too)and bring to boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

Serve hot!

Dal Fry

Dal Fry


Most Indian restaurants in Inverness are not really Indian so it is not all that easy to find genuine Indian food. Being vegetarians, our options are limited and I usually go for sag aloo or bhindi bhaji and dal. Although the menu would say tadka dal, it would not usually have the traditional tadka. However, I must say that it tastes quite nice and different from the usual dal recipe. If you are a vegetarian or even a non-vegetarian conscious of calories, then you would appreciate the need to have lentils and pulses in our everyday diet. Adding them to sambar and rasam is a good option however, it is probably not for everyone. Knowing a number of different dal dishes I think would come in handy and you could be surprised by how many different flavours you could impart to these otherwise bland ingredient. This recipe was my attempt to re-create the restaurant dal and my husband’s feedback (he is the one who likes their dal more than me) was that I had outdone them. My honest opinion is also the same. In my earlier attempt to reproduce the dish, I was not very successful as I used garlic powder. Over time, I think my cooking skills are maturing so after recently tasting the dal, I figured it must be garlic paste that imparts that flavour. Bingo! I added wee bit of coriander powder and amchur powder (dry mango powder) as the latter imparts some sour flavour. This is optional though. It is a very simple dish best served with freshly steamed rice and sabji or chapattis.

1-2 teaspoons garlic paste (depending on how garlicky you like)
½ teaspoon chopped ginger
½ cup tuvar dal (pigeon peas)
¼ cup mung dal
3 green chillies
2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves
½ teaspoon coriander powder
¼ teaspoon amchur powder (dry mango powder)
Turmeric powder
Cooking oil
1 teaspoon ghee
1 small onion, sliced

Cook the dals together with turmeric powder ensuring the dal is mushy. I also ran my hand blender so it was well mashed but this purely depends on your preference

Heat little oil and add the onions and brown. You could add a couple of pinches of sugar so it helps caramelise and brown. Keep aside

Add bit more oil and ghee and once hot, add the garlic paste (mine was rather coarse paste), ginger, green chillies and fry well until browned and ensure raw smell goes

Add dal, required water, salt, chopped coriander, coriander powder, amchur and simmer for about 10 minutes stirring often and adding water as needed

Garnish with browned onions and serve hot