If you have been following my YouTube channel, you would know that all my thursday recipes in a month follow a theme and I call it the #themethursday! So this month, I decided to share with you the recipes of different dals, from different states of India. The first recipe I shared was the Mango Dal from Andhra Pradesh, which was followed by the Dal Tadka or Dal Fry from the North. And today, our journey in quest of a new dal recipe is to the west of India – the state of Gujarat.
Gujarati Dal has a delicate balance of sweet, salty, spicy and tangy flavours – all in one. It gets its sweetness from the addition of jaggery or sugar, spiciness from the chillies and tanginess from the tamarind. Most traditional recipes call for kokum to add that tangy flavour. However, since I did not have kokum with me, I have added tamarind.
I have liked having this dal curry with rice as well as rotis. Even the kids loved it as it wasn’t too spicy.
Gujarati Dal
Course: MainCuisine: Indian, GujaratiDifficulty: Easy4
servings5
minutes30
minutes35
minutesA sweet and tangy dal recipe from the state of Gujarat…
Ingredients
- For pressure cooking
Toor Dal – ½ cup
Water – 1 cup
Fenugreek Seeds – 1/8 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/8 tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
- For the gravy
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 1/8 tsp
Hing / Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp
Curry Leaves – a few
Cloves – 2
Cinnamon – a half inch stick
Bay Leaf – 1
Dry red Chilli – 1, broken into 2
Green Chilli – 1, slit into 2
Ginger – ½ inch piece, finely chopped
Peanuts – 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder – ½ tsp
Coriander Powder – ¼ tsp
Cumin Powder – ¼ tsp
Hot Water – 3 cups (adjust as per the consistency of the dal)
Tamarind Pulp – ½ – 1 tbsp (adjust as per taste)
Grated/Powdered Jaggery – 1 – 2 tbsp (adjust as per taste)
Salt – as per taste
Coriander leaves – a few, chopped
Directions
- Wash the dal well and drain out the water.
- Pressure cook the dal with the water, fenugreek seeds, turmeric powder, salt and water for three pressures.
- Keep it on sim for a few min and then turn off the heat. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Once cooked, mash the dal well using a whisk, stick blender or masher. Keep it aside.
- In a kadai, heat the ghee. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and hing to the hot ghee and let the seeds crackle.
- To this, add the curry leaves, whole spices, dry red chilli, green chilli, ginger and peanuts. Saute this till the peanuts are fried well.
- To this, add the chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder and saute for a few seconds.
- Next, add the cooked dal and mix well.
- Add the hot water, tamarind pulp and jaggery and let it all come to a boil together. Adjust the quantity of tamarind pulp and jaggery such that neither of the two flavours are over powering.
- This dal is not very thick, so adjust the quantity of water accordingly.
- Let the dal simmer for 10-12 min. Finally, add the coriander leaves and turn off the heat.
