Daal Pakoras Before Christmas

Hope you're in the Christmas spirit by now. Am assuming the packing of gifts, the drinking of wine, the eating of chocolates and all things dessert have peaked or close to peaking right about now, huh? This year, it's been quite a mellow holiday season for me, just the way I like it. In case you didn't know, I like boring. Excitement isn't good for the heart, or your stomach. And I live for what I put in my stomach! Anyway, back to food. I thought, how about sharing yet another appetizer recipe, and a quick and easy one at that? In fact, how about using up yesterday's lentils that you don't really want to eat, but can't bear to throw because, hey, it's daal (दाल) and who throws out daal?

     This is what I learnt from my mother. She had innovative ways of fixing fresh meals from leftovers, and she'd tell us, yes, it's a new appetizer. Or she'd say, it's a very popular and well-known dish (she never did clarify where it was popular, and I was too intrigued with the food to care to ask!), and I couldn't wait to eat it. So when I looked in my fridge and found a bowl of day-old lentils, this is what I came up with.
Daal Pakoras with Coriander Chutney 
Serves 2 (two very hungry souls)

 Ingredients
1 cup cooked daal/lentils (use moong, or masoor daal)
1 tbsp whole wheat
2 green chilies, chopped
1 purple onion (medium), diced
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2 tsp lime juice (optional)

Recipe

• Strain the lentils so most of the liquid is separated. Use a sieve if need be.
• Add the whole wheat to make the mixture thick. Add more if needed.
• Add half the onion, cumin, coriander, chili powder along with half the green chiles and half the coriander leaves.
• Mix the ingredients well, and mash the lentils with a spoon while mixing.
• Make flat round balls of the daal pakora, and place them on a plate
• Heat the oil in a cast-iron skillet.
• Saute the daal pakoras, making sure they don't touch.
• Add more oil if need be, but since you're using a cast-iron skillet, you should need less, that's the idea.
• Transfer the cooked pakoras to a bowl, sprinkle coriander leaves and green chilies as garnish.
• Season with pepper (optional)
• Spice it up with lime juice (optional)
• Eat with fresh coriander chutney.

     My favorite memory of home has been eating pakoras with a hot cup of tea when it's raining outside and there isn't much to do but eat and make my sister's life hell. I'm not sure what your memories of good times are, but make daal pakoras, and you'll know what I mean when you bite into one.
     Enjoy, and happy holidays!

A Deep Discussion on Daal (Makhani)

I realize I'm a big daal (lentils) addict. I suppose all Indians are. It's great with rice, naan, rotis, rich in proteins, fiber, it's just wonderful. And it's easy to make if you have a pressure cooker. Indians eat over ten (twenty?) types of daals, a mixture of them, individually, boiled, sprouted, steamed, cooked with curry leaves, with coriander leaves, with or without cream, with or without lime (and lemon), +/- ginger, with deep fried onions (or not), with tomatoes, with meat, with vegetables...you get the idea. The obsession is almost similar our obsession with mangoes, but that's a different topic. Back to daal.
  When I was in India, a 100 years ago, Ma cooked and I ate. Those were the roles assigned, and we didn't deviate. Imagine my surprise upon landing in New York, with my trusty suitcases, packets of chaat masala, cumin seeds, and Indian outfits that would remain in their pristine, starched form for years, and I realize, not only do I have to study, stay in school, do the dishes, pay my rent, balance my checkbook, have money in the bank to survive & pay bills but I also have to cook! Cook enough and cook edible. For the first year and a half I survived on butter chicken (there's only so much butter chicken you can eat every week, I realized that on month 3), half-thawed vegetables sautéed with almost raw coriander and cumin powder (I still can't buy those frozen packs, the trauma was well...traumatic), mushed rice from the rice cooker, cereal and milk (my lifesaver). Twenty pounds and a dress size (or two) later, I returned home to a crash course on cooking--especially daal. This time I was back in New York with every Indian grad student's favorite cookware, a Prestige pressure cooker. Since then, I've acquired three more cookers, and I have no idea how I lived without them or without lentils for so long. Urad, Moong, Masoor, Rajma, Choley, Toor..you name it. The world of daals opened up for me--a really heavenly experience, with the church music and halo lights around my pressure cooker...well, not quite that dramatic. But I even acquired a few cookbooks. That's how I started over a decade and a half ago. No, wait, a 100 years ago.
And this was my first daal I made, it's my sister's recipe. She's of course, the best cook in the world, and here's my attempt.
Note: If you don't understand the hindi names of these lentils, go to any Indian store, and they'll help you out. Promise.
Daal Makhani
Ingredients
1 cup उरद urad daal (चिल्का (chilka), unpeeled)
1/2 cup चना chana daal
1/2 cup kidney beans (राजमा rajma daal)
1/2 inch ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
4 tbsp yogurt
or 2 tbsp yogurt and 2 tbsp heavy cream
2 medium green chilies, chopped
coriander leaves for garnish
salt to taste
2 tbsp clarified butter, घी
Recipe

• Pressure cook the lentils with ginger, garlic, घी (ghee), chilies and tumeric powder
• Remove lid, and slow cook the same till the lentils blend with the spices
• Add cream/yogurt and cook some more before removing from the flame
• In a separate pan, heat ghee, ginger, tomatoes, green chilies, garam masala and salt
• Add the daal to this, and mix
• Add more cream if you want it richer (you've added tons of घी (ghee) and cream already, so stop!)
• Garnish with coriander leaves
• Serve with rice or रोटी rotis

This really should work. If it doesn't, let me know. But if a novice cookbook reader can make it, you can too. And it should look somewhat like this:

 Enjoy!

Moong dal with Ginger (Lentils)

This week, a fellow foodie and scientist who's also a brilliant chef, Sylvia, asked for a lentil recipe from moi, मुझसे (mujhsey), aamakey! Oh, my, was I flattered. But besides being flattered, I had to give her a recipe she could try without running to the Indian grocery store and spend hours in a dazed state of mind for Indian spices can be confusing, especially if you're unused to the desi labels. Anyway, so, here's my recipe, Indian style, followed by a twisted one. Let me know how yours turns out. Would love to see some photos too.
Ingredients
1 cup moong dal (mung bean lentils)
2 tbsp ginger
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chili powder (optional)
1 tsp cumin powder
1-2 medium chilies (Thai), sliced
1/2 cup purple onions, chopped
1 tbsp clarified butter/ grapeseed oil 
Half a lemon
Salt to taste

• Boil the moong dal with the chilies and salt. I prefer a pressure cooker since it takes less than 15 minutes, but you could boil it in a pot too. Set aside.
• Saute onions with ginger, coriander leaves, cumin seeds and powder in a flat-bottomed pan in oil or ghee (if you're super skinny and/or don't care if your heart complains). Add chili powder if you're feeling adventurous. When the onions have wilted, and the color changed to translucent/white, add the dal.
• Be careful, the lentils may splatter! Add about 1 cup of water, and let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes. Add more water if you want the lentils less thick.
• Garnish with a few coriander leaves, and a dash of lime juice. Eat with basmati rice. Enjoy!

Alternate recipe:

• Boil the dal with carrots (2-3 medium), potatoes (1 medium) and chiles.
• Saute the onions with coriander leaves, ginger, cumin seeds and powder.
• Add the dal with the vegetables to it. Boil or let simmer on medium-heat.
• Instead of water, add vegetable broth or chicken broth to make the lentils less dense. Simmer some more.
• Add a splash of lime juice, garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with basmati rice, or drink it as a soup with bread.
• Enjoy!