In this pic you also see the previous chapli kabab and pudina chutney which recipies are already written. There is also my mango achar but I have a masala that I make up for no matter what type of achar I make. I am going to make a fresh batch of achar soon and post the recipe for it Inshallah. Clearly the star of this show is a dal dish from Peshawar and I am now going to post this recipe. It is a very simple and straight forward recipe that is easy to follow and great for beginners. Also, recipe for a dough that you can use for chapatti paratha and puri is coming too so be on the lookout please?
Ingredients for dal : 1/2 cup or 4 handfuls of yellow moong ki dal, toor dal, masoor ki dal to use of your choice or if you want at times that I mix all 3. I chose to use yellow moong ki dal. I added 5 cups of water, 1 pinch of turmeric, curry powder, 1 pinch of Himalayan pink salt, 1 pinch of red chili powder, Garam Masala, mine here is homemade. Don’t worry it is for single use only. If using the whole garam masala grind in either a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. 1 pinch of pepper corns ground in spice grinder or mortar and pestle. 1 tiny pinch of baking soda to soften. This will speed up the process of cooking. This is if you are not using a pressure cooker if you are skip this step.
Ingredients for tarka: 4 cloves of garlic chopped, 1 whole dried red chili, 1/4 cup olive oil. For garnish: cilantro (optional).
Method: Wash the dal and pick out bad pieces and look for stones in the dal and there is a choice of dal that you prefer. After washing soak the dal for 3 hours to over night.
For non pressure cooker I added the dal that I had soaked. I put enough water in there to cover the dal. I added turmeric, garam masala. the peppercorns I had ground up in a mortar and pestle, red chili powder, curry powder I added Himalayan pink salt, I added a pinch of each, a very tiny pinch of baking soda. Cook on low flame for 20 minutes. Check to see if it is done, if the dal is still a little hard then cook for another 20 minutes.
If using a pressure cooker use all of the above procedure except adding a tiny pinch of baking soda, I have an imusa pressure cooker and it is a good one it is a stove top model not an electric one they sell electrics too but I love my stovetop one better. Wait til the safety button pops up because it means it is under pressure under high heat then bring it down to medium heat and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. After the time is up, turn off the stove and let the pressure release. This will take another 15 to 20 minutes.
Please be patient and let the steam and the pressure escape. You do not want to go to the emergency room because of a mishap. The kitchen can be a dangerous place if you are not careful and I hope I am not scaring anyone. This is a vital tip while cooking that you must follow. I know I am a good cook and sometimes I still get splattered by hot oil. So be careful. If you pressure cooked your dal transfer it to a regular pot on high to reduce the liquid in the dal. this dal should not be soupy like rasam and a little thicker then sambar.
Rasam and sambar are South Indian and they are more soupy.
I go to a lot of different food blogs to try out new recipes too but I want to put more recipes that are unwritten and had never been in print before. After the dal had reduced and started to thicken some, if using non pressure cooking method skip this step it is not needed. For the tarka I added 1/4 cup of cooking oil in to a wok or a skillet, 4 cloves of garlic chopped and 1 whole dried red chili which I crumbled in to the oil with the garlic and fried the garlic and chili until the garlic turned a golden brown. This is the tarka that I poured in the dal. 1 big huge piece of cilantro which is optional you can add it but this time I didn’t add but it would make the dal tastes really good. Enjoy it and sorry about my ramblings.
You can also cook it in a regular pot which is non pressure cooker method for 60 minutes or until done and use the spices as mentioned above.
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