Dal recipes Archives | Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes

Kokum Wari Dal ~ AlifBe~36

Alka Keswani — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 14:10:27 +0000

To check the recipe video of Kokum Wari Dal click here To know details about Kokum, please do read on! We are now at the 36th consonant in AlifBe of Sindhi food (A-Z of Sindhi Food) and it is ڪ in Sindhi, क in Devanagari and K in Roman Sindhi. And while I had plenty of options to choose from, for a Sindhi dish starting with this alphabet, I picked Kokum Wari Dal. Few days ago, I was having an interesting conversation with Saaz Aggarwal; the well known Biographer, columnist, Historian and author of wonderful books like ‘Sindh: Stories from a Vanished Homeland’, Sindhi Tapestry, The Amils of Sindh and more and as we spoke about Sindhis, about their culture, food, rituals and about the influences we have from varying communities she did mention Kokum (Garcinia indica) and we both were curious to know how this tangy sun dried fruit from the Konkan belt paved its way in Sindhi Kadhi and Dal. So I decided to look around for some information about the Kokum phool or Kukum ja Gullah (also known as Kokum Ja Gullah) and I ended by feeling more confused. Firstly I could never figure out why the fruits of Garcinia indica (Kokum) are called Kokum phool in Hindi and Kukum ja gullah (Gullah = flowers in Sindhi language). Secondly, there is no proper information available about the difference between black kokum and white kokum. Fruits of Garcinia indica are generally sold either as the dried rind (the dark purple leathery skin) or as the dried slices of fruit along with seeds. The slices could be circular or the fruit could be sliced vertically. I haven’t seen the leathery rind being used in any Sindhi preparation. What we use, is generally called the ‘White kokum’ by non Sindhis while we call it as Kukum ja gullah. I did compare many samples from different shops and I found that the seeds and the dried fibre of Kokum phool from different places appeared different in terms of shape, size and texture but then a lay man cannot figure out if those batches came from different species of the same family or if those are different fruits altogether. I regret not capturing pictures of all the samples that I saw in different kirana shops. Sometimes I doubt if the Kokum phool that we Sindhis consume are actually the fruits from Garcina (varying species) or are those the dried monkey fruits i.e Artocarpus lacucha (Vatamba), since the texture of some of the samples of Kukum Ja Gullah that I saw, looked very much like the dried Vatamba, though the pericarp appeared to be thicker. Not sure how different both (Kokum phool and Monkey fruit) are supposed to taste but the only sample I had of Vatamba, a long ago, tasted not very different in the Kadhi, from the Kokum phool (Garcinia indica) that Sindhis use. So is it possible that Vatamba is sold in the name of Kokum phool? Or is my thinking too wild? When and how did Kokum phool got infuse in Sindhi style preparations ? Well, again there are vague theories only because I couldn’t track down the actual timeline and the route via which Kokum reached Sindhi kitchens. To begin with, Kokum is found in the Konkan Belt, the western coastal region of India. The region was a part of the Bombay Presidency along with the Sindh region (Now in Pakistan) and perhaps the traders from Sindh took with them the dried kokum phool with better shelf life to use it as an alternate (or add on) souring agent. Or perhaps the people from Goa who migrated to Karachi in 1820’s took these with them and Sindhi folks who are quick to adapt from the surroundings, selectively adapted the dried kokum fruits ignoring the leathery rind. Perhaps the ancient Sindhis didn’t like the way the rind imparts color to the final dish and they were more happy with the dried fruit that infuses wonderful fruity, tangy flavors to the Dal or Kadhi, without affecting the color of the dish. Or is Kokum an influence from Gujarat, since the dried Kokum is also used in Dal in Gujarati cuisine? Or did it entered in our Kitchens via Malaysia? Since there is a mention of Garcinia cambogia in a dictionary where it is referred to as a ‘Malaysian plant’. There is a reference of Mangosteen too but I couldn’t find anything about Garcinia indica in Sindhi dictionary or articles that I could refer so far. Would love to hear from you if you know the details. Please do share your views or bits of information on this, in the comments below. For now, I am sharing a recipe of everyday dal, made in Sindhi homes, where mostly tomatoes are used as a souring agent but sometimes dried Kokum phool are added for the extra oomph! Sindhis mostly consume mung dal with rice. Toor/masoor/urad dal chilka etc were less popular with previous generation of Sindhis, particularly those living around Bombay (Now, Mumbai). Of course now things have changed and we do include the above mentioned dal in our regular diet too. One thing that I have noticed in many Sindhi kitchens is that unlike the regular practise, we cook dal for a while after tempering (mostly people do not cook dal after it is tempered). Print Kokum Dal ~ AlifBe~36 Serves: 4 servings Yellow mung dal flavored with dried kokum fruit or Kokum phool Ingredients ½ Cup Mung Dal 2 small Tomatoes 1-2 Green Chillies ½ " Ginger 4-5 Dried Kokum Phool ½ tsp Turmeric ¼ tsp Red chilli Powder 1 tbsp Cumin seeds 2 tbsp Ghee/ Oil 7- 8 Curry Leaves Salt As per Taste Coriander Leaves for Garnish Method Soak half a cup of mung dal in water for 20- 30 minutes. Drain and rinse with fresh water, a couple of times. In a pressure cooker, add soaked dal and around 2- 2.5 cups of water. Let the dal boil. Collect the scum (froth) and discard it. Add grated tomatoes, chopped chillies and ginger along with salt and turmeric powder. Rinse Kokum phool with water properly. You can add Kokum at this stage or after the tadka. I prefer to add it along with tomatoes. Close the cooker with the lid and wait for 2 whistles of the pressure cooker. Switch off the flame. Once the pressure subsides, whisk the dal using wooden whisker. Add hot water, if needed. If eating with rice I do like the dal to be on thinner side so I did add around a cup of water. Heat 2 tbsp of oil/ghee in a tadka pan and add cumin and curry leaves. When cumin seeds turn darker, switch off the flame and add red chilli powder. Pour the tadka in the dal. Immediately cover the cooker with the lid so that the dal absorbs the aroma of the tempering. After 2 minutes, stir and add some coriander leaves. Close the pressure cooker with the lid and cook again (1-2 whistles of the pressure cooker). Garnish with some more coriander leaves before serving. Can have it with roti/phulka and/or rice. Note: Many prefer to cook this dal in open pan (Sipri). The process remains the same though the amount of water required may be more when cooked in an open pan. Many like to add kokum phool after tempering as they dont like to whisk the dal having kokum phool. In that case, do add kokum after the tempering and allow dal to simmer for 10 minutes so that it can absorb the flavors of Kokum phool. 3.5.3251

The post Kokum Wari Dal ~ AlifBe~36 appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Dal Tikki|Baked patty from leftover Dal

Alka Keswani — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:48:45 +0000

Lentils…there are possibly million ways to cook and relish lentils and India is a blessed country, with the sheer variety of lentils grown here, the number of way these get incorporated into our daily diet and the exhaustive combinations of meals that we can make, using split dried lentils or Dal….be it Chana dal, or urad dal, toor dal or humble yellow moong dal ( skinned and split Moong beans) While Sindhis do use variety of legumes and pulses in their daily food, the yellow Moong Dal stays the favorite. Not only we cannot live without our Dal chaawal, but this dal is also used frequently for making stuffed parathas, fry dal etc. This time when I cooked stuffed Dal paratha, there were some leftovers.So the leftover dal was put to good use by adding some chickpea flour and spices and making patties.These were baked instead of deep frying and hence a healthy way to consume leftovers, is now being shared with you all 🙂 I used one cup of leftover dal here. So that means 1 cup of cooked dal, which was not mushy. This is what we use to stuff parathas.To make 1 cup of such dal, just boil in an open vessel, 1/2 cup (or tad bit more, depends upon the quality of lentils used) with some salt, turmeric powder, 1-2 green chilly/ies, till tender. Drain out excess water if the dal is cooked before the water evaporates completely. For making parathas, the dal should be dry and fluff. But if you want to make dal tikki, its ok if the dal gets bit mushy, because anyways we are going to add bit of water for making patty. Print Dal Tikki|Baked patty from leftover Dal Rating 5.0 from 2 reviews Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 2 Dal tikki is a lentil patty, made using leftover Moong Dal and mixed with chickpea flour and Indian spices, baked to make crispy savory snack. Ingredients 1 cup Yellow moong dal (cooked ) 3-4 heaped tbsp Chickpea flour (Besan) Salt just a little 1small onion chopped A pinch of Hing (asafoetida) 1 tbsp Cumin seeds ½ tsp Amchoor powder (optional) Chopped coriander leaves 2-3 tbsp Mint leaves 4-5 leaves (Optional) 1 tbsp of dried pomegranate seeds or Annardana (optional) Water 2-3 tbsp more or less Method Take the cooked dal, which is cooled properly.Mix all the ingredients and add 2-3 tbsp of water to make a smooth dough like preparation. Depending upon the consistency of dal you are using, you might need more or less water. The idea is to bring together all the ingredients, and you should be able to take a lump of this mixture and shape it in a patty. If the dough is too tight, add some water, if too soft, add some more besan Shape the remaining dough into small patties and arrange these on a greased baking tray maintaining some distance between each patty. Brush some oil on the surface of each patty and grill/ bake till brown. I grilled these in Grill mode of my Microwave/convection oven for nearly 18 minutes.There wasn't any need to turn over and bake on another side of the patty. The cooking time and temperature may vary from Oven to Oven.) You can shallow fry or deep fry the tikkis. Enjoy with Ketchup or chutney or your choice. #version# 2.2.1

The post Dal Tikki|Baked patty from leftover Dal appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Tadka Dal

Alka Keswani — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:30:41 +0000

Who likes to mess up with life? Who loves complications? If given a choice who prefers walking on a long hurdled road to a smooth drive? Raise your hands, if you like to get in the way of things, if you like to be in a tricky situation, if trouble is a name of your best pal…. I really, really want to see how do crazy people look like 😉 The gibberish geek talks just put me off, while simple straight forward vocabulary really amazes me. I really can’t understand why people need to take a long unnecessary route to put up their thoughts, why people go around, round and round and round in their talks, confusing you about their intentions , and making you wait for the time immemorial, just to say at the end “Sorry I can’t help you”..Darn ! Simplicity is the word Dear…why can’t people just BE SIMPLE..why on Earth one needs to dig in the Lexicon to find one “more Appropriate” word, when there is no dearth of uncomplicated words used in our day to day life? The ranting has nothing to do with my personal life..no I am not bogged down with such situations..I just wanted to check how annoying could the rambling stuff be, while reading a post, when actually all that I wanted to talk was about a Simple Tadka Dal Recipe…lol. Dal as you might know is a very staple food of Indians.Its almost impossible to jot down all the variety of Dal/pulses/legumes that we Indians eat and all the different ways these are cooked in different homes.The permutation and combination will be enough to boggle anyone, so lets not get into details at this moment. Lets just focus on today’s simple comforting Dal, Dal tadka or Tadka Dal, that is made with Masoor Dal. Tadka Dal, is one common way of making Lentil Curry, wherein Masoor or moong dal is cooked with tomatoes (and sometimes with onion and garlic too) and then tempered with different seasonings, mainly of cumin and mustard seeds, curry leaves and Whole red chillies. The taste, the texture, the tempering and the spices varies from place to place as we move from North (Punjabi cuisine is very famous for Tadka Dal) towards South, each having its own unique Flavor. There are probably hundreds of ways to make Tadka dal, the one which I chose to make, was the way Sindhis generally make Fry Dal (with moong dal) Print Tadka Dal Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 35 mins Serves: 3 Restaurant style Tadka dal. Ingredients 1 Cup Masoor dal ( split orange Lentils) 1 Onion 1 Large Tomato 2-3 Green chillies( Adjust according to choice) 3 Cloves of garlic Salt ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder 1 tsp oil Fresh Coriander leaves for garnishing 1 Cup Masoor dal ( split orange Lentils) 1 Onion 1 Large Tomato 2-3 Green chillies( Adjust according to choice) 3 Cloves of garlic Salt ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder 1 tsp oil Fresh Coriander leaves for garnishing 1 tsp Oil ½ tsp Mustard seeds ½ tsp Cumin Seeds 1 whole dried Red chilly Few curry leaves(optional) Method Pick, rinse several times with water, and soak Masoor dal for atleast 10 minutes. In a pressure cooker, add 1 tsp of oil, saute chopped onion till translucent. There are two ways to use garlic in this Dal, either cook it along with Onion, or add it along with Tadka.Since I do not like to chew on garlic pieces if added in Tadka, I added it with onions. Add chopped tomato and add salt and turmeric powder. Saute till tomato is cooked, then add soaked Dal, about 2-3 small cups of water(bit above the level of dal). Mix well and close the lid of pressure cooker and wait for 2 -3 whistles. Let the pressure subsides, whisk the dal well, but do not overdo.Adjust the consistency as per your preference, check the seasonings and adjust accordingly. Just before serving, pour the dal in a serving bowl . Prepare the tempering , with one 1 tsp of oil, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and Dried Whole red chilly and let the seeds splutter. Immediately pour the tempering carefully over the Dal in serving bowl Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with Rice, Jeera rice or Pulao. 2.2.1

The post Tadka Dal appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Toor dal Kadhi

Alka Keswani — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:41:30 +0000

Home Sweet Home…We all love the simple warmth and comfort of our home,don’t we? No matter how small or palatial the place we live is,no matter how many inconveniences and problems are in our paradise,but still we tend to love our home more than any other place. I too love my place,despite of all its negative aspects,i adore this place of mine. But then, sometimes we also long to visit a friend’s or relative’s place or some holiday destination to overcome the feeling of routine monotonous life and to rejuvenate ourselves Well same hold true for me, and though I love my Virtual place (SindhiRasoi), I will visit on and off to my friend’s place,now and then.The new place I am talking about is Beyond Curries Amongst various bloggers I came across , one lovely fellow is Sia, of Monsoonspice, the lovely lady (ill)famous for her elaborate and perfect restaurant style (even better than that) cooking All the curries and Indian style veggies that she makes, are shared with all of us with jaw dropping pictures and amusing stories. So now her New place will be a hangout place for me and some very senior and lovely food bloggers too.Yeah…Not being contented with all the popularity sia gets from Monsoon spice,the gutsy lady is coming up with another virtual kitchen,to let you learn, to share, to enjoy , to clear your doubts, to amuse you, basically to do everything that you want to,to learn Indian Cooking We the group of foodies and food bloggers, have joined Sia, to come up with a whole new place called Beyond Curries.The place which can very confidently boast of ,providing all the necessary information, recipes and answers to your queries about Indian Cuisine.A forum meant to address all the doubts that Indian and Non Indians have about Indian Food habits , spices, curries,utensils required, the regional names of ingredients , the tastes, the recipes, the secret tips…so on and so forth….For further details do visit the link. Also the BC logo at the sidebar will help you to reach my new place 🙂 So do join us ,and we the BC group calling ourselves BC Contributor , hope that we will continue getting all the love and support from you all, the way we are getting for our individual blogs Now coming to today’s recipe, this is yet another Sindhi style Kadhi, very famous amongst us, and this tangy and flavorful kadhi is loved by one and all There are many variations in the recipe , depending upon the personal choice. Some prefer just tamarind for the sourness,while other (like me) likes to use tomatoes . Some use the combination of tomatoes and tamarind. Many add besan,while some skip that. And today I followed the recipe of Mr.Suresh Hinduja,the CEO of Gourmet India, with some tweaking of course, to suit our appetite Here is the original recipe by Suresh: Print Toor dal Kadhi Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 1 hour 5 mins Serves: 6 A sindhi Style Kadhi recipe, adapted from GourmetIndia.com Ingredients 1½ cup Toor Dal (dry measure) 150 g Bhindi 150 g Ghawar(cluster beans) 4 drumsticks(moringa oleifera/murungakai) 50 g Kokam phool 1 tsp fenugreek(methi seeds) 2 tbsp besan(bengal gram flour) 3 tbsp oil 6-7 mild red chillies 400g tomatoes ¼ cup tamarind juice Ginger Garlic Salt Method Pressure cook the soaked dal with kokum, fenugreek seeds and sufficient water. Let cool, churn/whisk and strain through a colander. Make a roux of oil and besan, cooking till well roasted. . Gradually add the strained dal whisking vigorously to ensure no lumps are formed. Bring to a rolling boil and add the drumsticks, ghawar, bhindi in 5 minute gaps. Grind tomatoes, red chillies and ginger to a smooth paste and add to the curry and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the tamarind juice to your level of sourness Serve with a fresh tadka(tempering) of curry leaves, jeera seeds, red chilli powder, garlic and ginger julienne. And lots of coriander leaves. Notes The changes I made: I didn't strained the dal, and I used 2 tomatoes and a pingball sized tamarind , soaked in water and then mashed it.Discarded the pulpy tamarind and used the tamarind extract.And instead of red chillies, I used 3 green chillies (The kadhi was just aptly hot and sour for my kid,but you can adjust the quantity of ingredients as per your taste). I also added one large sized potato, cut into chunks, along with bhindi and cluster beans(since I didn't had drumsticks at that moment) I know after going through both the recipes, people will note huge difference in both versions, but be assured this kadhi tastes delicious both the ways, and since Suresh himself puts it like this....This recipe is not written in stone and variations abound. Though you have tasted a benchmark here, please tweak this recipe to your liking. So here is how I went... Pick, rinse for several time, and then soak toor dal for some time In a pressure cooker, boil it with some salt,kokum and water till 6 whistles of pressure cooker Meanwhile, in a thick bottomed pan or kadai, add 3 tbsp(I added 2 tbsp ,and it was ok ok, though stirring the besan in less oil is tedious......) and add besan and keep stirring till the besan changes the colour.You have to be very careful so as not to burn the besan.In mid way somewhere, do add the curry leaves(6-7 leaves), fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds. Keep the grind-ed (pureed) tomatoes handy.While grinding tomatoes, add green chillies and ginger too.You can add garlic also, but I skipped that one, as the kadhi we generally eat is devoid of garlic Now as soon as the besan in pan starts turning brown and your kitchen is filled with aroma of it, carefully add the tomato+ginger+chilly paste ,and keep stirring vigorously so as to avoid any lumps. And once again a note of caution here is to be careful, since as soon as tomato paste is added in besan, lots of fumes arises which can scald your hands , so do not hold your hand above the pan, but at some angle Add turmeric powder, and mix vigorously till oil starts separating Now carefully add this mixture to the boiled and whisked dal, while stirring properly so as to assure, no lumps are formed Check the seasoning, add some salt, or some more tamarind if required and then close the lid of pressure cooker and wait for few whistles (of cooker of course) or you can also let the kadhi simmer without closing the lid, for as good as half hour Again here mid way somewhere, add chunks of potatoes, let the kadhi boil for some time, then add drumsticks , let it boil for some time and finally add bhindi and cluster beans( i shallow fried both of them and then simmered these in kadhi) Let the kadhi boil till veggies are cooked and all the ingredients, nicely blend with each other to create that heavenly taste of THE KADHI Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve it with plain white rice and some sweet boondis 2.2.1

The post Toor dal Kadhi appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Saayi Dal(Split Green Mung Dal)

Alka Keswani — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:32:44 +0000

To begin with, this had been a hell of crazy month so far, for me…..with too many commitments and too many changes in my otherwise routine life.So much that I almost thought of winding up things and going in some solitude.The hustle bustle of life gets too hectic for a person like me who loves to be in her own small but comforting world.I hate being dragged in different directions and I simply loathe myself for being unable to utter NO to anybody.Though there were some amazingly pleasant surprises too ,but those too came with a Whiff of sadness .No matter how much I wish of wishful bliss-es, I am aware that life is like that, so guys love it or hate it…..U have to live in this world (where else can I run away …huh??) Well, if you are still reading this, then I am thankful to you for pausing and hearing my claptraps, but I promise I wont go on and on and on.So let’s shift our focus on some more useful stuff and talk about today’s recipe Dal is a very staple food in Indian cuisine and that includes Sindhi cuisine too.There are many varieties of pulses that we consume in our daily diet.No matter how much Modern sindhis go GA GA over American/Chinese/Italian food, but nothing could beat the satisfaction of eating Dal chaawal or dal roti,and that bring them back to their roots(atleast in terms of food).They eat like gluttons when offered with burgers,pizza,noodles,Frankie(with due respect to all these foods), but soon the craze fades away and they start longing for simple Ghar Ka Khana…..and the food they miss most is of course Dal chaawal. Sayi dal or split green mung dal is yet another dal that I love to cook and eat, coz, its so flavorful and healthy too.So here we go… Saayi dal: Print Saayi Dal (Split Green Mung Dal) Rating 3.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Serves: 2 Split green moong dal with garlic tadka Ingredients Saayi dal (also called as khichdi dal) about a cup Tomatoes 2 Green chillies 2 or more Ginger 1" piece Turmeric powder ¼ tsp Salt as per taste Water For tadka: Garlic 4 cloves Curry leaves 5-6 Cumin seeds ½ tsp Oil 1tsp Method Wash and soak dal for about half hour.You will find skin of dal separating out out, its up to you,to discard that or continue cooking with it In a pressure cooker, add dal, chopped tomatoes, green chillies, ginger (all chopped), salt, turmeric powder and water, say about 3 cups approx.(water should be much above the level of dal) Close the lid and wait for at least 5 whistles Later mash the dal with a wooden whisker or churner and add tadka For tadka, heat about a spoonful of oil, add crushed garlic, curry leaves and then cumin seeds (in that order only) and let the cumin seeds get brown in color.Immediately add this seasoning in dal and adjust the consistency by adding some more water if required Now either allow to cook the dal and wait for two whistles (of cooker of course) or simmer it for few minutes till the dal absorbs the flavor of seasoning Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve with boiled white rice and vegetable of your choice (optional) I enjoyed this dal with boiled rice and shallow fried Bitter gourd chips (just wash and slice bitter gourd, add salt and keep aside for 15 min, then shallow fry and add turmeric powder, red chilly powder and coriander powder) 2.2.1 PS:This request is nothing to do with food recipes, its just a personal call. I know there are many talented ladies (some guys too??? hmmmmmmm) here and many of them are doting mothers too.So I wud like to request you all,that if you can spare some time, will you share some good English/hindi poems for 1st grader (5 and half yr old kid)? The recitation competitions are soon to be held in my son’s school and I had googled enough to find some good simple poems nice enough for my kid to learn in the past two years.But this time I feel short of finding good stuff (time constraints and lack of patience to read and sort from enormous collection) So if you can squeeze out some moments and send me links or texts of some good poems (not nursery rhymes),I will be obliged You can send me your poems (or links of your fav. poems) at sindhirasoi@gmail.com(sindhirasoi at gmail dot com) Hope you generous people out there, will help me out on this ! Thanks !

The post Saayi Dal(Split Green Mung Dal) appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.