An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [90]
What gives dal dishes their final flavor or pep is the tarka, or baghar or chhownk. This does to the dal what a rouille does to a fish soup in the south of France. It makes it come alive! You can “give a tarka” of whole mustard seeds or cumin seeds or fenugreek seeds, or of asafetida and cumin seeds, or of browned onions and ginger, and so on. Basically what happens is that oil or shortening (in India it is ghee) is heated in a small pan or skillet. Whole spices are added, and the ghee and spices are then poured over the cooked dal.
Here is a list of the commonly used dals; you should learn to recognize them by their shape and color.
MOONG DAL Hulled and split: small, yellow, rectangular grains; unhulled and whole: small, green, cylindrical grain, called mung beans in health food stores.
URAD DAL Hulled and split: small, off-white rectangular grains; unhulled and whole: small, black, cylindrical grain.
CHANA DAL Hulled and split: round, yellow grain, larger than moong dal. This dal is of the chickpea family.
ARMAR OR TOOVAR DAL Hulled and split: round, dull yellow grain, slightly larger than chana dal and often with irregular edges.
RAJMA Whole and unhulled: red kidney bean, which comes in a medium and small size.
MASOOR DAL Hulled and split: very tiny, round, shiny salmon-colored grains that turn yellow when cooked.
KALA CHANA Whole and unhulled: small black chickpeas.
CHHOLA OR KABLI CHANA Whole: chickpeas or garbanzos.
LOBHIA Whole: black-eyed peas.
In this chapter, I have also included recipes for the dals available in your supermarket (lentils, frozen black-eyed peas, canned chickpeas) and for dishes made with ground chickpea flour (Karhi) and ground urad dal (Baris).
WASHING AND CLEANING DALS
All dals, with the exception of those packaged in America and usually bought in supermarkets, are usually very dirty. First, they have to be picked clean. Dishonest wholesalers and retailers have long made it a thriving practice to add tiny stones, often the same color as the dal, to boost the weight. Also, occasionally, you will find a few discolored or deformed grains that need to be removed, or there may be stalks, twigs, and what-have-you’s lurking around. The best way to remove this is to put the amount of dal you wish to cook at one end of a large platter. Now slide 10 or 15 grains at a time to the other end of the same platter, spotting and removing all unwanted objects as you do so. Keep your hawk’s eyes open because there is nothing worse than crunching a stone as you eat your dinner! Next, the dal must be washed several times in cold water to remove any dust that may be clinging to the grains. Now you are ready to cook it.
Lentils
SERVES 6–8
This is a recipe for the dry lentils as bought in an American supermarket.
2 cups lentils
1 cinnamon stick, 2–3 inches long
1 bay leaf
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 slices fresh, peeled ginger, ⅛ inch thick, not more than 1 inch in diameter
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
¾ lemon
1½ teaspoons salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼–½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or usli ghee
A pinch ground asafetida or tiny lump asafetida
½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
Wash the lentils. Drain.
In a 4-quart heavy-bottomed pot, combine the lentils, 6 cups water, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, garlic cloves, ginger slices, and turmeric. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently until tender, about 30 to 45 minutes.
Slice lemon into 5 or 6 rounds. Remove seeds. Lift cover of pot and put in the lemon slices, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Stir. Cover and simmer another 5 minutes.
Just before serving, heat the vegetable oil in a 4–6-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When very hot, put in the asafetida and the cumin seeds. As soon as the asafetida begins to sizzle and