I’m one of those people who get sick of eating the same things over and over again. Rice and daal (lentils) particularly. However, the great thing about daal is that it’s made in such a wide variety of ways. Every household has their own style of daal, and no two are the same.
If you browse through an Indian grocery store, you’ll see exactly how much variation is possible. There are rows upon rows of different types of daal. I usually just buy the standard yellow moong daal and channa daal. The other day, I decided to be a little more adventurous. A packet of mixed green and yellow moong daal caught my eye.
“Ah, this is like from a village”, my husband commented when I showed him.
I decided to get creative and throw a bit of everything into the pot (I don’t use a pressure cooker — those steaming, hissing little monsters still freak me out!) when making the daal. I wanted it to be as hearty and as filling as possible. Here’s my recipe for the daal in the photo.
- 1 chopped onion.
- 1 chopped tomato.
- 4 dried red chillis.
- a handful of chopped fresh dhania (coriander/cilantro).
- 1 large teaspoon of ginger garlic paste.
- a pinch of jeera (cumin) seeds.
- a pinch of rai (black mustard) seeds.
- a pinch of haldi (tumeric) powder.
- 1 cup of moong daal.
- 4 cups of water.
- salt to taste.
Heat a small amount of oil in the pot, and cook the cumin and mustard seeds until they pop.
Put in the chopped onions and ginger garlic paste, and cook til onions are golden.
Put in the dried red chillis, tumeric powder, and daal. Lightly fry the daal for a minute or two (add a little water if necessary).
Put in the chopped tomato, water, and salt. Cover the pot with a lid and cook until the daal is soft (add more water if necessary).
Put in the chopped dhania and stir it up. It’s ready to serve!
© 2010, Diary of a White Indian Housewife. All rights reserved. Do not copy and reproduce text or images without permission.
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Looks tasty! I once grated in capsicum and tossed in some toasted coconut into dal … and strangely enough, it worked.
Hi Sharell, nice ‘tadka’ blog !!
The photo is mouth watering too. :p
My mom uses the same recipe
Most dal recipes are quite simple to prepare just like u mentioned.
Formula : Boil+Mix+Tadka=Dal
With the rise of Rs.35/- LPG Cylinder, those little monsters will be of great use.
) cook faster, lesser energy is consumed in the process and with the rising costs of LPG gas, this will sure be an advantage.
(
Hi sharell,
I feel like having luch in the office after seeing this.
Daal is my fav and, I guess ,many people.
But I am suprised to see , that you havn’t tried the most popular daal i.e. ARHAR (yellow daal)
I mention some of the various daal , you would love to eat..
1. Arhar
2. Urad
3. Masoor
4. Rajma(though normally people dont treat it a daal but different dish)
5.Makhani Daal(which is actually mix of Chana daal, rajma , and urad )
have a happy meal..
Hi Mohit, I’m not a fan of Makhani daal because of all the butter that gets put in it. I don’t eat much butter! I’ve cooked Rajma a few times though. As well as channa masala.
Just a curious question, do you eat rice with hands or silverware?
Not to offend anyone, just curious to know as many Indians love to eat with hands specially rice. So thought to ask if you have tuned yourself to that style too
BTW, it is breakfast time here and looking to this temping “Thaali” I am kinda feeling hungry now.
When I’m with people who eat with their hands (such as at my in-laws), I eat with my hands. When I’m at home I use a fork, and so does my husband.
I have no problem eating with my hands (and actually like the way it helps the food taste, and how useful it is when you want to have little bits of everything on your plate), I just don’t like the clean up process afterwards — getting the food out from under my nails etc.
Hawkins makes good pressure cookers. The Futura line, expensive but good anodised aluminium. It cannot blow up like many other cookers because of it’s design. Give it a thought.
Pretty impressive : http://www.hawkinscookers.com/1.1.2.futuraHA.asp
Hands down, hands are better than knife and forks. I deal with food-under-nails with my special *brush*.
Another curious question @sharell:
Have you ever eaten rice+curry out of Banana leaf(as a plate) while sitting on the floor with legs folded? If you didn’t, please try.
Madhu, can you elaborate more about your special brush!? Maybe it could benefit me! And yes I have eaten off a banana leaf, quite a few times (including in Kerala) but perhaps only once sitting on the floor. It is good! 8)
hmm ..that y i dont like nails at all , i stare at people ,who have nails more than 2 cm ..i dont like even 0.0001 mm .that y , my nails look even smaller than many kids .
It looks very delicious. I love toor daal and I do not like daal makhni. However will try mixing these 2 moong daal. The photo looks WOW !! I hope my daal also comes out so nice.
btw do try out eating from a banana leaf – it is fun
Looks very tasty! Whats next to the rice is cucumber?
Ha ha ha…I finally bought a pressure cooker tonight as my friend was coming over to teach me how to make rajma, one of my favourite dahls. She put the rajma on to boil, and I was happily chopping the onion when…I nearly jumped out of my skin as the pressure cooker let off its first ‘whistle’! She thought my reaction was hilarious, but I thought it was normal considering I don’t normally like things blowing up on the stove! Now I understand, at least…
And now I have my pressure cooker, I’m inspired to try making lots of things. I’ll have to add this dahl to the list
I’m invited for dinner right?
congrats Sharell, u have alot of courage to try to cook indian food:) personaly I dont like indian food because of the spices, the only things I like are chapati, butter naan and gulab jamun:)
Julya , I would like you to try some non-spicy Indian food like Daal , Khichadi, Pulao ,Poha, Kadhi , etc etc…. hope u like it ,
well where r u from?
Arhar is also called Toor dal….. per my wife, pressure cookers are useful primarily for Dals/beans….try making Sambhar also!
makin’ it tomorrow, lentils are out on the counter!
@ Sharell, “…I just don’t like the clean up process afterwards — getting the food out from under my nails etc…”
Try this when you are with your in-laws, use a spoon in your left hand to eat rice/daal etc, and right hand to eat dry stuff such as roti. I find this way much more convenient to eat almost any kind of so called “Indian” food (without getting food in under fingernails).
Amit Desai July 8, 2010 at 7:23 am
@ Sharell, “…I just don’t like the clean up process afterwards — getting the food out from under my nails etc…”
Try this when you are with your in-laws, use a spoon in your left hand to eat rice/daal etc, and right hand to eat dry stuff such as roti. I find this way much more convenient to eat almost any kind of so called “Indian” food (without getting food in under fingernails).
You are never supposed to use left hand while eating. Left hand is what you use to wipe your back side and hence you always use right hand. If you ever use left hand while eating at religous place they will throw you out.
@ Sharell “can you elaborate more about your special brush!?”
You may not be appealed by it, but its the effective one that i know. Coconut fibre. It is really gr8 and has a variety of uses. Just find an end thin enough that it goes under your nails. Not perfect but it works well.
I use coconut fibre to dab oil on to my bbq grill too, way better than using silicon brushes,because the fibre can hold oil better than silicon and coats it evenly.
Another tip : If you have dirty feet(which happens a lot) the best method so far i’ve to wash away the dirt and grime is to walk/rub your feet on wet grass, way better than rubbing hard with pumice/stone & soap(dries up to attract even more dirt and makes feet coarse).
For some reason I’m not able to view your “An Australian Meal” article. Something about the words or phrase being banned here. Have I missed something about censorship here??
Hey Sharell!!!
Lovely! Love trying to find the many different uses for dal. Bear loves the stuff and could eat it plain but I get tired of the same ole’ same ole’, so I always try something different.
Last night I made dal soup, adding potato, onion, tomato, pea’s, crushed peanut to cooked and blended dal. Turned out pretty tasty.
Try using Kokam (Amsul) and Jaggery in your next dal, it adds a different flavor.
We should have a recipe contest or something!
Looks good!
Daals cook a lot faster if you don’t add salt and tomatos while the daal is cooking.
wow! You added 4 red chillies to the daal…Seems you’ve become pakka desi
@ Psoriasis Patient, “…You are never supposed to use left hand while eating…”
That doesn’t mean you are not supposed to hold a spoon with your left hand. Traditionally, left hand is supposed to use to do dirty tasks such as washing your butt-crack, and consequently, it should not be used for a purpose of eating due to health-hygiene reasons. Today, we have hygienic ways that enable both the hands to be used for any purpose.
@ Psoriasis Patient, “…If you ever use left hand while eating at religous place they will throw you out…”
I never go to such places that will throw me out. Such places often exhibit the most logical ideas that I fail to comprehend!!!
Looks yummy!!! Great Job!!!!! CHEERS! Michele xo
Thanks for reminding me of this. I actually was so inspired by your recipe, I improvised on it a bit. I actually added a proportion of 1/4 cup split moong to 3/4 cup whole moong and added the rest of the spices pretty much in the same way (minus coriander leaves, since I have none at home) and added both green and red chilies! It was yummy! My husband told me it reminded me of his mom’s dhal (not quite there… yet!). Thanks.
i made dal last night for my husband, he looked at it and laughed so hard! my dal was not soupy like he likes it! it was quite dry haha!! he said hes going to have to show me a few more times. I am also a white indian housewife..but not in india..im quite jealous of you
Hi Chelsea, keep trying, you’ll get it right soon! Just add a bit more water.
Try making dalma. Its an oriya recipe. Its dal with vegetables.
http://oriyafood.blogspot.com/2007/03/dalma.html
Oh wow, this looks delicious!!! 8) I will try it for sure, along with some of the other recipes. I laughed at the mention of the use of fish heads in one of the curry recipes — my mother in law does this. She offered me a head one day and couldn’t believe it when I turned it down. For her, it was the yummiest bit!
Ya i use to love that. It increases your eye power told by elders from childhood. But after marriage i have become vegetarian .And my in-laws don’t take onion and garlic also. As they have come to Bangalore for 1 month i am cooking without onion and garlic. It’s very difficult to cook but i am learning to cook without onion and garlic.
Wow, that must be a challenge for sure, but well done for adapting. I can’t imagine anyone from my family becoming a vegetarian — and they love fish too much!
And my mother in laws’s renowned mutton curry (where they all love to suck on the bones… another thing that I find disgusting, and they laugh and wonder how I can deprive myself of the best bit!).
@Sharell-
The coconuts we get here in Nepal are rather stale, rancid, soapy & ‘mothball’ tasting. Can you buy coconut that has been shredded & packed to retain freshness in Mumbai? I’ve never seen it in Delhi. I mean at someplace like Hypercity? I’d like to make some macarons for Eid this year.
I found some! (After much searching). It’s imported from Indonesia though. I’m sure Hypercity would have it. I either got mine from Nature’s Basket or Haiko (supermarket near where I live). I can’t remember as it was a while ago.
@Sharell-
Hmmmmmm that is interesting, there’s a company in the US called ‘Tropical Traditions’ that stocked organic coconut from the Phillipines, it was packed in a special tub that you didn’t have to refrigerate & processed to never go rancid. I just thought coconut meat would be really fresh & cheaper here in Asia. I have a friend who sends me a monthly CARE package from the US, I guess I’ll ask her to send me some.
Oh, I might be confused over what you actually mean. I was thinking dried dessicated coconut, but you might’ve been referring to something else? The issue with finding dessicated coconut is that it isn’t popular in Indian cooking.
@Sharell-
Apparently most of the world’s coconut used by confectionary companies (like for candy bars such as Bounty, or the American Mounds bar & cookies & such) comes from the Phillipines & Indonesia. they have some sort of special ovens/treatment process that partially dries the coconut & preserves it. The dessicated coconut we get here in Nepal is REALLY nasty, soapy & mothbally. Is the dessicated coconut you are talking about the one that is used in my favorite ANZAC biscuits? I’m not sure that would work for macarons & American style coconut cream pie.
It’s just like the coconut on the outside of the famous Aussie lamington: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington
@Tamasha
My dad bought a coconut farm under the foothills of the Kodaikanal Hills and there is a small factory near that makes dessicated coconut.
I had once taken it for my professor at the engineering college, as I was his pet student.
Most of indians buy the coconut, break it as it retains it freshness and grate it! What form of cocnut are you searching for?
@veeeeh-
YAY!!!
I love coconuts!!!
The coconut I’m looking for is shredded rather than ground as finely as the ‘dessicated coconut I’ve seen in India & Nepal. It’s not dried so completely that its like powder, rather slightly moist & a bit oily. The ‘Tropical Traditions’ website says their coconut from the Phillippines does not contain sulfites nor is it sweetened.
I’d also to buy some coconut cream (not milk) that is canned or jarred & some ‘virgin’ cold pressed coconut oil for my hair & skin. The Parachute brand coconut oil for hair I can buy here smells rank.
I can occasionally buy Thai coconut cream & oil here that is canned, but it is very expensive.
Fresh coconuts here in Nepal are expensive ($7 apiece) & seasonal (not year round)
I’d be much obliged if you could help out!
oh my god $ 7!!!
The cocnut growers get only 2-4 Rs, its the middle men who make the killing.
I wish i was there at India to do something for you Tamasha.
There are lot of oil mills but would not suggest buying from those, the fresh cocnut oil as they add bad dried copras along with the good batch for oil production. Some of my relatives do sun dry their copras and convert it into oil for thier consumption.
Unfortunately, its the powder form of desicated cocnut that they manufacture in the small factory near my home.
I can try buying it here at New england and ship to you? Now will that be economical…I doubt!
@veeeeh-
Thanks for your reply!
I’ll ask my friend to ship me some from the US in my monthly CARE package. Air freight shipping is not that bad US to Nepal, it’s the ‘value added tax’ & ‘luxury tax’ that gets exorbitant.
I’m not sure why fresh coconuts are so expensive in Nepal, they only bring them in twice a year around certain festivals. Maybe they know Nepalis will pay outrageous sums for the coconuts used in festivals? (a lot of times Nepalis just use pumpkins instead)
@Sharell-
HA HA
One of my Aussie friends sent me the CWA COOKBOOKS 1&2 by The Country Women’s Association. Those ladies are a little uptight!!!
Uptight busy bodies!
just love sambar ..all time ..
and i like only type dal ,, dont know the name . but no idea abt any cook items .