Food Week – Day 2 - Delicious Daal

Edited

BY G P Kennedy

Delicious daal with rice and chapati

 

Tassy – Karachi, Pakistan

 My eating habits during the lockdown have consisted of a lot of ‘grazing.’ Being at home 24/7 has resulted in snacking all afternoon on nuts, crisps, biscuits and other crunchies. The 

kitchen keeps beckoning and walkabouts round the house invariably end up in the kitchen, scrounging through the kitchen cabinets. I recognize it for what it is - boredom eating or comfort eating, and frankly I am allowing myself the indulgence without too much guilt. I used to be very good about not eating in between meals but find that harder to do now that 

 I am at home all day. Also, since this lockdown period has resulted in the watching of probably more Netflix and TV series than ever before, it has led to more unnecessary snacking. My daily meals overall have not been too large but that is probably on account of the extreme hot weather we have been facing since April. My appetite also seems to have shrunk after one month of fasting. 

Sindhri Mangos

 There are some advantages however to this extreme heat. Summers in Pakistan have the best seasonal fruit on offer. The entire nation awaits with bated breath for what we call the “King of all fruit”, the mango! Mangoes are one of Pakistan’s biggest exports and there are over a hundred varieties grown locally. Many Pakistanis could probably taste different mangoes blindfolded and say which variety they are! So my favorite lock down food right now has got be the Sindhri variety of the mango. 

 While I was admiring photos posted by friends of various breads, cakes and gourmet dishes they were experimenting with especially during the early days of the lockdown, initially I also started baking with my newly returned daughter from Toronto with great levels of enthusiasm. The interest waned however as there was only so much cake one could eat! Since then, we as a family have been resorting to eating comfort food. 

Cakes!

 In other words, eating good, wholesome food our palettes have been accustomed to for decades since childhood. For me nothing can be more satisfying than my home made mixed daal. This is cooked as either a vegetarian version or with tender pieces of lamb. It is eaten with white rice or chappati (flat white bread) and accompanied usually with a pungent pickle, and a small salad called Kachumber made of sliced onion, tomatoes, coriander and green chilies, doused in lemon juice and salt. 

My mum’s mixed Daal (lentil curry) recipe   (for 4\6 people)

 

1 Cup toovar daal (Pigeon Pea or tropical green pea lentil)

½ cup chana daal (Split Gram lentil)

½ cup moong daal (Yellow Split Gram)

1/4 cup black masoor daal (substitute with Puy lentil)

(Please note you can substitute the lentils with whatever lentils you can get. The lentils stated above will definitely be available at an Indian grocery store. Try and get a mixture of lentils)

8 tablespoons cooking oil (olive oil is fine too)

1 can of chopped tomatoes or 5 freshly chopped tomatoes

2 teaspoons of finely sliced garlic

1 teaspoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of coriander powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of whole cumin seed

2 whole green chilies

1.5 teaspoon salt to taste

Method

In a pan add the oil, and sauté the sliced garlic. Add all the spices and salt and sauté until fragrant. Then add the tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes. Add the green chilies.

Add the daals (lentils) into this mixture and approximately 1 liter of water and allow to cook for a couple of hours.

When the daal becomes totally cooked (you will see that it is very soft to the touch) then turn off the stove. Allow to cool for a bit and then blend the mixture to make it really smooth. The consistency should be like a thick soup.

Garnish the daal with finely cut coriander leaves before serving.

Serve with white rice or chappati.