The New Bride Gets a Special Gift

In Delhi, before we were married I lived the glorius colonial life, with servants and a cook  in the Esprit company house, so I’d never had to cook a thing. While we were packing to move to America, Kiran turned to me and asked in a voice that sounded concerned, “Can you cook?”  I laughed. “Yes, but I don’t know anything about Indian food.”

Kiran's family at our wedding. Kiran's mother is standing next to me.

Kiran told me, “Don’t worry, Mummy will give you her recipes.” But like all Indian mothers, she had the recipes in her head.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to measure them out or I’ll never be able to do this,” I told her. I had to have my teaspoons and tablespoons.

So, being a scientist (she is a doctor), Mama went into her kitchen and methodically measured out the basics of Punjabi home cooking for me.  She filled the lined pages of a small brown notebook with her hand-written recipes and presented it to me as a gift when we left for America.

She was smart; she knew she was insuring that if her son got homesick for India, it wouldn’t be because he was missing home-cooked Indian food.

The recipe book Mummy wrote for me.

As you can see, the ink is disappearing, but it’s ok - the recipes are in my head now.

My first Indian Dish – Yellow Dal

A typical Indian meal consists of dal, a vegetable, yogurt, with or without meat. You can skip the meat because dal plus yogurt makes a complete protein, but  all Indian meals must have a dal. There are many varieties of dal; the easiest to make happens to be most people’s favorite – Yellow Dal. Indian cooks are fond of using a pressure cooker to speed things up but this dal doesn’t require it. Instructions follow for making it on the stove-top and with a pressure cooker if you have one.

Yellow Dal – 30 minutes

1 cup Moong Dal (yellow split, available at Indian grocers and health food stores)

2 inch x 1 inch fresh peeled ginger chopped fine

½ tsp turmeric

1/4 – 1/2  tsp cayenne pepper (check hotness before adding)

1 tsp salt

3 cups water

Tadhka - garnish

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion chopped coarse

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 handful celantro chopped coarse

1 tomato chopped coarse

Soak dal in 3 or more cups of water for 1/2 hour or more. After soaking wash several times until water runs clear. Drain.

Place dal in a saucepan with 3 cups water,  ginger and spices. Bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer uncovered 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Taste – dal should be soft not crunchy. Watch carefully that dal doesn’t get overcooked or it becomes gluey. Add more water if it becomes dry or when reheating. The consistency should be more watery than porridge, but not as watery as soup.

If cooking in a pressure cooker – place washed dal and spices in pressure cooker instead of a saucepan. Cook on high heat until the first whistle. Turn off immediately. Let cool for 15 minutes. Cool off under the tap and open it up. Dal should be done.

For Tadka – garnish – heat oil in a small frying pan. Add cumin seeds. Stir for 30 seconds. They should make a popping sound. Add onions, fry on medium heat until  brown about 20 minutes. When nearly brown, add tomato and chopped cilantro and cook until tomato is soft. Pour into dal and stir lightly.

Serve along with white or brown rice and Indian meat and vegetable dishes. A store-bought wholewheat tortilla makes a good substitute for a chapatti.

Enjoy! You can make lots of tasty new dishes from leftover dal, which I will tell you about in future posts.