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2 tablespoons vegetable oil

A generous pinch ground asafetida or tiny lump asafetida

¼ teaspoon whole fennel seeds

¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon whole black mustard seeds

⅛ teaspoon whole fenugreek seeds

¼ teaspoon black onion seeds (kalonji), if available

2–3 whole dried hot peppers

1 teaspoon ground turmeric powder

1½–2 tablespoons salt

4 tablespoons lemon juice

Sift the flour into a bowl. Slowly add ½ cup water, mixing as you go, until you have a thick, smooth paste. Add another 2½ cups water, slowly, stirring all the time. Pour in the tomato sauce. Mix well. Set aside.

Now follow the rest of the recipe for karhi the section marked between the two asterisks.

If you wish to make the pakoris, follow preceding recipe.

Instead of pakoris, sliced vegetables (green peppers, onions, mushrooms, squash, or zucchini) can be lightly sautéed in oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and dropped into the tomato karhi 10 minutes before the cooking time is over.

To serve: See serving suggestions for preceding recipe.

Whole unhulled urad and rajma dal

SERVES 6

The whole unhulled dals, particularly urad and rajma, take a very long time to cook. This recipe takes 5 hours. You can, however, take comfort from the fact that they are 5 effortless hours. Once you put the dal on, apart from an occasional stir, not much else is required of you. In the Punjab, where the whole urad and rajma dal are specialties, they are left to cook in a slow earthen oven (tandoor) for 24 hours. Both dals can be cooked individually, using this same recipe, or they can be mixed, in whatever proportion you desire. I have mixed them half and half.

½ cup whole unhulled moong dal, cleaned and washed

½ cup whole unhulled rajma dal, cleaned and washed

A piece of fresh ginger, about ½-inch cube, peeled and sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

5 tablespoons plain yogurt

⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1¾ teaspoons salt

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons vegetable oil or usli ghee

1 medium-sized onion, cut in half lengthwise, then finely sliced

A piece of fresh ginger, about ½-inch cube, peeled and grated

A pinch of ground asafetida or a snall lump about ⅛ inch square

½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds

2 dried hot red peppers

In a very heavy-bottomed pot, combine the two dals, 5 cups water, the sliced ginger, and the peeled garlic cloves. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently 4½ hours, stirring every hour or so.

Put the yogurt in a small bowl. Beat well with a fork. When the dal has cooked for 4½ hours, lift off cover and mash it well against the sides of the pot with the back of a kitchen spoon. Pour in the yogurt, stirring as you do so. Also add the cayenne, salt, and pepper. Stir, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer another 30 minutes.

Heat the oil or ghee in an 8–10-inch skillet. When hot, put in the sliced onion. Fry, stirring, over medium-high flame for about 4 minutes, then put in the grated ginger and fry it along with the onions for 1 more minute, or until onions are brown and crisp. Remove onions and ginger with slotted spoon and set aside.

In the same oil put the asafetida, cumin, and red peppers. If the oil is very hot, the cumin and peppers will darken immediately. Turn off heat and pour contents of skillet into the pot with the dal. Cover pot again and leave until you are ready to serve.

To serve: Mix the dal and ladle it into warm serving bowl. Sprinkle browned onions and ginger over it. At Delhi’s famous Moti Mahal restaurant, a common order with this dal is Tandoori Chicken, naan, and Onions Pickled in Vinegar.

Baris (or vadees) with eggplant and potatoes

SERVES 6

To make baris, dals are ground, mixed with spices, made into a hard dough, and then broken off into lumps and dried in the sun. My grandmother made her own baris: I can still see them drying on white sheets spread over rope charpoys. These were laid out in the sunniest section of our large brick courtyard and watched over by a one-eyed hawk always perched on the telephone pole. But most people nowadays