Reverse Dal!

Reverse Dal!

   June 28, 2024       karthik

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Growing up I noticed my mother cooking Dal this way; wash the lentils, soak for a little time, boil with a few cut vegetables (often tomatoes, onions and/or potatoes) in the pressure cooker, end with garnishing and seasoning. Years later I learnt a method with an opposite sequence!

In Baghmara, Meghalaya, I saw a Garo cook washing the lentils and then frying them in some oil. I wondered what snack he was preparing. Next went in finely cut onions followed by chopped vegetables which were dry-fried in the pan with the dal too. After about twenty minutes, water was added to this mix and boiled for about thirty minutes followed by the last step, seasoning with spices. This dal tasted like a completely different dish from what I had been eating all my life, and frankly was tastier! Lo and behold was born the 'Reverse dal' recipe!

Then on I have cooked reverse dal this way with diverse vegetables: brinjal, pumpkin, tomatoes, ridge gourd and others. Everything tasted way better. Once at home I was coming dal this way and my mom had the same puzzled expression I had when I saw this reverse process although later she approved of the taste! She advised that this 'reverse dal' would work only with the dals that cook easily such as masoor (red lentil) and moong (mung bean), and not tuwar (pigeon pea) and chana dal (chickpea). I have used this recipe now for more than two decades and shared it with some friends. My friend Ben from South Africa cooks it a few times every month and his family eats it with rice and Boerewors. In my opinion, the reverse dal is tastier, although many may not agree with me! No way to find out other than making this Dal yourself!

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The lazy chutney

The lazy chutney

   June 23, 2024       karthik

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I was 21 in 2001 and had finished engineering and like or/and unlike many other engineering graduates had not a clue what to do next. We had a personal computer at home and I used to load it up with the games Commando and Hitman and used to play most of the day! Both my folks would leave for work by 845 am and then the castle was mine! 

By 11, I would get hungry and with the 20 bucks I had I would buy a loaf of Iyengar bakery bread and a cube of cheese or two and get back home. I would cut an onion, tomato and coriander, add a little salt, one green chilli and blend these in a mixer and spread it on the bread and eat. It was delicious. 

Years later, I realized that this was a simple enough delicious recipe anyone can make, born out of necessity and essentially laziness! This morning I made this chutney with Dosa; only, I used yak cheese from Himachal and pudina and cilantro leaves from my garden; affordability and options have increased, laziness has disappeared! But I would never forget this easy-lazy recipe!

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