Shaak Wali Dal

I had cooked other dishes for this week but somehow ended up posting regional dals prepared with moong. Today's comforting and simple flavored dal called 'Shaak wali dal' comes from Gujarat. A lentil dish where you can sneak in all those 'not so favorite' kind of veggies and no fussy eater would figure out. And so this 'mixed vegetables' based dal is especially for those picky eaters or when one needs to finish off those last bits and odds from the refrigerator. Here dal and vegetables are cooked together and mashed to invisible bits to mask any vegetables used and tempered with ghee and spices. Any vegetable other than bitter gourd for the obvious reasons can be used. Onion, potato, tomato, carrots, peas, cauliflower, pumpkin, chayote, bottle gourd, zucchini are some of the vegetables that can go into this dal. Greens / Beets would be a nutritional addition if you don't mind the green/ red looking dal.  I used potato, carrot, peas and tomato and made it on a thicker side by not adding any extra water other than needed for pressure cooking. Also I added more toor dal than moong in my dal.

Recipe source: Here
Ingredients:
1/2 cup moong dal / skinned and split green gram
1/4 cup toor dal / split pigeon peas
3 cups of diced vegetables 
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. chili powder
Salt to taste
For tempering:
2 tsp. ghee / oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
2 red chillies
a Pinch of asafoetida
1 sprig of curry leaves
Lemon wedges to serve

Directions:
* Wash and rinse the dals in two exchanges of water. Pressure cook dals adding vegetables, turmeric powder and 1.5 cups of water for 4 whistles.
(Soak dals for about 30 minutes in case not using a pressure cooker for any reason. Cook dals and vegetables together in a sauce pan on medium flame adding water as needed until the dals are cooked well. Keep stirring in between.)
* When the valve pressure is gone, mash the dal and vegetables well with the back of a ladle or potato masher or a churner, until the mixture becomes homogeneous. Add the spices and 1/2 cup (or more) of water and bring it to a boil.
* Heat ghee / oil in a small pan and add cumin seeds and red chillies. When the red chillies start to brown add curry leaves and asafoetida. Turn off the stove and add the tempering over the dal and give it a stir. (Garlic can be used as well for tempering.)
* Garnish with chopped coriander leaves if preferred.
* Serve with rice or rotis, with lemon wedges on the side. 

This goes to Blogging Marathon under 'Bookmarked Recipes' Theme.

 


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A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ G for Ghugni Chaat

Bengal's ghugni aka ghugni chaat is a street food  popular both in eastern and northern parts of India. It can easily be classified under healthy and filling food category even though it is a street food. This chaat is full of flavors where dried peas are cooked in a base of aromatic spices, sweet onions and tangy tomatoes. This protein rich dish can be served as a chaat on it's own or even as a side dish for rotis / pooris.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried yellow peas

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, finely chopped

2 small potatoes - peeled, cubed and cooked

2 tbsp. oil

1 tsp. ginger paste

1 tsp. garlic paste (I didn’t use any.)

1/2 tbsp. or more bhaja masala 

1/2 tsp. garam masala

1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Ingredients to garnish:

Minced cilantro 

1 red onion, finely chopped

Sweet tamarind chutney

Bhaja masala (Recipe below)

Method:

* Soak dried peas for at least 6 hours or overnight. Pressure cook adding 2 cups of water for 2 whistles. Save the water used to cook peas.

* Heat oil in a pan, add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for few seconds. Add  chopped onion for garnishing and cook until translucent. Next add tomatoes and cook until the oil starts to ooze out. 

* Add cooked potato cubes and peas, turmeric powder, cumin powder, chili powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well and add about ¾ cup water (or saved water from cooking peas.)

* Cook on medium heat until the desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. (It should be thinner than my version in the pictures. I didn’t pour more liquid in the serving cups for picturing sake.)

* Garnish with bhaja masala, cilantro, chopped onion and tamarind chutney. Serve immediately.

Bhaja masala preparation:

Ingredients:

1 or 1.5 tsp. cumin seeds

2 red chillies (Use 1 chillie if less spice is preferred.) or 1/2 tsp. red chili powder 

Method:

* Dry toast the cumin seeds on low flame until they start to brown. Toast the red chillies if using. Cool and grind them together fine.

* If using chili powder, toast cumin seeds only. Grind cumin and mix chili powder to it. This is bhaja masala. 

So far, on this series,
A for Aloo Kabli
B for Bajra Vada
C for Chooda Matar
D for Dahi Batata Puri
E for Elaichi - Kesar Lassi
F for Fulwadi

 Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

An InLinkz Link-up

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