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Monday, April 21, 2014

Dalma

After trying out more than a dozen deep frying / sugar laden recipes in the marathon so far, I thought it was time for some simple comfort food. And so it is dalma for today, which happens to be a popular, vegetarian home-style dal. It comes from the state of Odisha formerly known as Orissa, from the eastern coast of India. This dal was completely different to the ones I have grown up eating. The sweet-sour Andhra style pulusu or the spicy sambhar that uses tamarind or the north Indian style dals - This was none of those. It uses ginger - cumin and the panch phutana tadka that happens to be the signature seasoning of the east Indian cooking. The recipe uses no kind of souring agent, surprisingly and so I was missing the tang I naturally associate with the dals. Otherwise the dal was worth trying. 

Recipe source: Here
Ingredients: 3/4 cup toor dal / pigeon peas
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 cups mixed vegetables (Brinjal , green papaya, raw plantain, potato and pumpkin - Peel all veggies except brinjal and cut into medium sized pieces.)
1 tsp minced ginger
Red chili powder to taste
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp shredded fresh coconut
Coriander leaves to garnish
Ingredients for tadka:
1 tsp ghee / oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds / rai
1/2 tsp black cumin / kala jeera
1/2 tsp fennel seeds / saunf
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
1/2 tsp fenugreek seed / methi ke dana

Method:
* Cook toor dal adding turmeric, ginger, vegetables and about 1.5 cups water if using a pressure cooker. If not using the pressure cooker and cooking toor dal in a sauce pan, add extra water as needed until the dal is cooked soft.
* If you think the vegetables may turn mushy in the pressure cooker, they can be cooked separately on stove top or in a microwave. 
* Dry roast 1 tsp cumin seeds and a red chili in a pan. Cool and grind them fine.
* In another pan, heat oil and add red chillis and the tadka ingredients. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, turn off the stove.
* Add the above tadka, salt, sugar to the dal and stir well. 
* Sprinkle cumin and chilli powders. Garnish it with coriander leaves and coconut. Serve with rice.




Comments

18 comments:

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Dalma is that dish that I have been craving for a long time. Excellent preparation.
Deepa

Unknown said...

Dalma is looking awesome!!

Priya Suresh said...

Wat a comforting dish, even i tried dalma and completely fallen in love with it..Beautiful choice.

The Pumpkin Farm said...

i agree the amount of rich food consumed during mega marathon is reasonably high, good that it happens once in 6 months though :) dalma is perfect substitute to detox

Varada's Kitchen said...

The Dalma looks good but looking at the ingredient list I think I would miss the souring agent in this dal too.

Unknown said...

Name sounds intersting dear!!! Looks yumm!!!

Srivalli said...

I wanted to make the Dalma as well..changed it at the last moment..very lovely pic..and I guess after the sweets and deep frying, this is surely a comfort food.

Srivalli said...

Not sure if my comment came through!..Dalma looks amazing..even I wanted to make this, changed it at the last moment..

Harini R said...

Nice picture. I admit that the missing tanginess dissuaded me from trying this out. I would add a dash of lime :). But comfort food is what it is!!

Pavani said...

That is a delicious dal from Orissa.

Gayathri Kumar said...

Dalma looks so nice. I think today is Dalma day...

Usha said...

I considered dalma for this state but ended up making a different curry. Dalma looks delicious

Nalini's Kitchen said...

Wonderful pick,Dalma looks absolutely delicious...

Chef Mireille said...

I have seen so much delicious versions of dalma I must try it soon

jayanthi said...

i made dalma too but used just potato and eggplants because i was feeling lazy. great that you included all these veggies

Archana said...

Beautifully done. Love the pics.

Padmajha said...

Nice pick for the state Suma.Want to try this soon...

vaishali sabnani said...

This is still on my to do list..much before the BM i had wanted to make this..yours looks wonderful...must try after the sept bm.