This was probably the most fearsome dish to make for the party since I had never made it before (especially in such quantity), it was quite involved, and I thought the taste might be hit-or-miss with the crowd. (Maybe they can respond on whether it was good or not.) It is a type of daal, which I guess you could call Indian soup. This is Gujarati daal (specific to my home state) which is meant to be a little thicker than just soup. It turned out to be a bit too thick but fortunately this dish can easily be diluted with a little bit of water.
This requires a bit of beforehand prep; in order to make things go as smoothly as possible you need to soak the lentils beforehand in water for about 1 hour. The type of lentils you need is found at any Indian store; it is called tuvar or toor daal. There are two types of toor daal in stores, dry and oily. This dish uses the oily kind.
For the party I multiplied this recipe by 4; this is the maximum I would attempt making in one pot. If you want to make more I recommend using multiple pots.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup oily toor daal
- oil, mustard/cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped cashews
- 1/4 tspn turmeric
- 1 tspn hot chili powder
- 1 Tbsp dhanajiru (50/50 mixture of ground cumin and coriander)
- 1/2 tspn white sugar
- salt
- MAX 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tomato
- chopped cilantro to taste
Like I said the prep is involved. But the result is a hearty, filling, vegetarian dish. Best served mixed with rice.
- Soak 1 cup oily toor daal in water for one hour.
- Rinse three times with hands. The water should be mostly clear after the third wash.
- In a rice cooker or pot, boil the daal in enough water to cover it. (About 2.5 cups water per cup daal.) If the water runs low add more. You should have to drain the water when you are done. You will know it is done boiling when the daal has grown in size and is easily crushed by a spoon or your teeth.
- Drain the daal and pour the daal into a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Place a pot on the stove, on medium heat. Add oil, mustard and cumin seeds.
- When the seeds begin to pop, add the blended daal and stir.
- Add chopped cashews and a stick of cinnamon here. Use 1 stick cinnamon per 2 cups daal. Use technology to chop the cashews.
- Stir in the following spices: 1/4 tspn turmeric, 1 tspn hot chili powder, 1 Tbsp dhanajiru, 1/2 tspn white sugar, salt to taste.
- You can also add (no more than 1/4 cup) lemon juice to help dilute the daal slightly.
- Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Add in 1/2 to 1 finely chopped tomato.
- After the mixture is boiling, set the heat to low and let cook for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- When you are ready to serve, garnish with chopped cilantro.