Thursday, January 03, 2019

Ghoti Kalai Dal

Ghoti Kalai Dal

Ghoti refers to the people of West Bengal. Kalai/urad dal is good for controlling diabetes because of its alkaline nature. This ginger and 5 spice perfumed dal was a popular dish prepared in my sister's 'shoshur bari' or in-laws' home. During one of our frequent phone calls, she gave me this recipe or rather what I remember of her instructions.



INGREDIENTS
1 cup kalai/urad dal, husked and split
1-1/2 Tbsp. ginger paste
1 tsp. fennel powder
3-4 small, round eggplants, blanched
   or 1 Japanese eggplant, cut in bite-size     pieces and blanched
1 bunch red salad radishes, blanched
6-8 baby potatoes, peeled and boiled
2 Tbsp. mustard oil
1 tsp. asafoetida/hing
1 tsp. panch phoron/Bengali 5 spices 
2 dry dried red chillies coarsely torn
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. sugar
salt to taste


DIRECTIONS
  1. Soak urad dal for 6-7 hours or overnight.
  2. Cook urad dal, half the ginger paste and salt to taste in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water for 2-3 whistles/10-15 minutes and set aside.
  3. Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan and add asafoetida/hing.
  4. In the same oil, sputter paanch foron, 5 spice seeds, bay leaves and dried chilies.
  5. Add half the ginger paste and saute for 2-3 minutes over a medium flame.
  6. Pour in the boiled urad dal, and bring to a simmer.
  7. Add the potatoes and radishes and simmer until fork tender.
  8. Add eggplants and simmer until cooked.
  9. Adjust salt and sugar to taste, fennel powder and remaining ginger paste. 
  10. Stir well and add some hot water if needed to get the right consistency. 
Serve with rice and any of the following Posto dishes:




No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear from all of you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

If you have a question I will reply to your comment. If you prefer an email response, please mention that and make sure your blogger profile is linked to your e-mail, otherwise I will not be able to e-mail you back.

Please note that any and all comments posted by 'Anonymous' persons are deleted without exception as a means of nuisance abatement.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting on this post.

Chumkie.