About Me

I am a media professional ,settled in Mumbai.I am a product of various cultures happily co existing.Born of a Gujrati-Karwari father and a Goan Saraswat mother. Married to a Khatri from Lucknow.My closest friends are a Bengali,a Tam Bram,A Shetty.I revel in the colourful social tapestry I live in and blogging about its intricacies is my way of celebrating them.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Dal Tadka

Sometimes the simplest dishes make the most nutritious meal and look stunning. Dal and rice with a simple aalu gobhi can any day win over a fancy dinner at a party. Most often , I end up eating this at home , before I go to a party. Not for me the long drawn cocktails and dinner served at 12 midnight. I'm a  happy bunny with my fragrant and delicious Dal Tadka and steamed rice.

Ingredients
1 cup toor dal / split pigeon lentils
salt to taste ( approx 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp haldi/ turmeric powder
2 tablespoons ghee/ clarified butter
2 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds
a pinch of hing/ asafoetida
2 tsp red chilli powder ( I prefer to use the less spicy and very colourful kashmiri chilli powder)

Pick and wash the dal atleast thrice. Soak in water for about an hour. Place in a pressure cooker with the salt and haldi and twice the amount of water. Cook for 3 whistles. Then allow the pressure cooker to cool down before opening.

If not using a pressure cooker, place the dal, salt, haldi and water in a heavy bottommed pan. Bring to a boil , then cover and cook over a low flame for about 25-30 mins. Make sure the dal does not stick to the bottom.

When the dal is cooked you can either just mash it with a ladle or whisk it.
Heat the ghee in a small pan, add the hing, then the jeera . Once the jeera starts coming to the top of the ghee, take off the flame. Add chilli powder and quickly sprinkle a little water on it carefully.
To serve , place hot dal in a serving dish. Pour the tempered ghee over it. Serve with steamed rice or jeera rice or with pooris/ rotis/ parathas.


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