Gujarati Osaman and Chhuti Dal Recipe

A memory: my granny telling me a story, mixing together soft rice with warm chhuti dal and slightly spicy osaman. Then she puts in a dollop of homemade fragrant ghee and a squeeze of fresh lemon. She mixes it to a soft mushy texture that I like and feeds me the first bite.

Gujarati Osaman Recipe

Osaman is to Gujaratis what rasam is to Tamils. A warm, comforting broth spiced with home-y memories. It is a thin and tangy broth with warm cinnamon and pungent clove. The real flavour of osaman is in the fragrance of the ghee tempering that fills your home with an appetising and comforting smell.

 

 

 

 

Gujarati Osaman Recipe

Chhuti dal is the flavoured boiled dal that adds volume to osaman and steamed rice when being eaten. The usual way of eating osaman and rice is by adding some chhuti dal to it. You can add some ghee and a squeeze of lemon for more flavour.

Chhuti Dal Recipe

Gujarati Osaman and Chhuti Dal Recipe

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 cup toor dal
3 cups water
2 tsps cumin seeds
2 tsps turmeric powder
2 tbsps ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon bark
2 cloves
1 tsp red chilly powder
2-3 pieces of dried kokum/ tamarind
1 tbsp jaggery
2 tsps finely chopped corriander
2 tsps grated fresh coconut (optional)
Salt to taste

Method

Wash and soak the toor dal for about 15 minutes. Pressure cook it with the 3 cups of water, a little salt, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp turmeric powder.

When cooked, drain the excess water and keep it aside. Then mash the dal to a mushy texture. That's your chhuti dal!

To the excess water, add about 2 tbsps of the chhuti dal. Blend well together.

Heat ghee in a pan. Temper with mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves.

Add the cinnamon and cloves and fry for about 15 seconds.

Add turmeric and red chilly powder and fry for another 20 seconds, making sure they don't burn.

Now add in the water of the dal prepared above. Savour the fragrance for a bit!

Put in the kokum pieces and the jaggery. Stir and bring to a boil.

Lower the flame and add fresh corriander, grated coconut and salt. Let it boil for another 5-7 minutes till the flavours are released.

Serve hot!

Dal Fry

It was a cold winter's evening about five years back. We had thrown a small surprise party for my mom's best friend and her husband who were celebrating their 25th anniversary that day. We had gotten a cake and some great food (Paneer tikka masala and some starters) from a restaurant we all love. And I had committed to make my best dish (then) Dal Fry for all.

At around 8 in the evening, aunty's son-in-law (jiju) and my brother came home with all the food from the restaurant. We took our plates and served all the food. We had the first few bites, and then jiju turned to my brother and asked, "Did you order the dal fry? I do not remember ordering it..." I had a huge smile on my face as I tell him, "No, I made this at home". The sound of great laughter followed!

Dal Fry

This memory is so clearly etched in my memory that whenever I make this Dal Fry, I am reminded of those words.

Homemade Dal Fry

Dal Fry

Preparation Time: 2 hours (including soaking time for the lentils)
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 cups cup toor dal
4 cups water

For the dal

2 tbsps peanut/ sunflower/ olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
2-3 dried red Kashmiri chillies
1 medium tomato finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
2 tsps corriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsps garam masala powder
Salt to taste

For the second tempering

1 tbsp peanut/ sunflower/ olive oil
2 tbsps ghee (clarified butter)
2 green chillies thickly sliced
8-10 cloves of garlic finely chopped
15-20 fresh corriander leaves finely chopped

Method

Soak the toor dal in the 3 cups of water. Pressure cook with another cup of water apart from the water already in the dal till it is cooked through.

In a deep pan, heat 2 tbsps oil.

Temper with the cumin seeds, the asafoetida and the dried red Kashmiri chillies.

Add in the chopped tomatoes and the turmeric powder, the red chilly powder, the corriander powder, the cumin powder and the garam masala. Fry the tomatoes and the masalas till they release the oil.

Now pour in the cooked dal and add salt. Stir it in well.

Lower the flame to simmer, cover the dal and cook for another 10 mins till the masalas seep into the dal.

In a small pan, heat the oil and ghee for the second tempering. Add in the garlic first, then the green chilly and the corriander last. Fry for about 30 seconds and pour over the dal.

Cover and cook with the second tempering for another 5 minutes.

Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with rice, jeera rice or rotis.

Dal Fry with the second tempering

Enjoy!

The Dals Week 5: Palak Dal

Some more experimenting with dals! Dals are a rich source of protein and adding in spinach makes it almost complete meal in itself. Adding spinach also adds a great new flavour to the bland dal that complements it well. It is a great way  to hide greens so your kids will eat them!

Dal with a green twist!

Palak Dal

Ingredients

3/4 cup toor dal

2 tbsps oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp asafoetida
6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 tsps turmeric powder
2 tsps chilly powder
1 tsp cumin powder
3 tsps garam masala powder
15-20 leaves of spinach shredded
2 pieces of dried kokum or juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt to taste

Method

Soak the toor dal in 2 cups of water for an hour. Add 1 more cup of water and pressure cook for 3 whistles on a high flame and cook on low flame for 8-10 minutes. Remove and blend to form a mixture with soup like consistency. Add a little more water if you want the dal to be thinner.

Heat oil in a pan and temper with mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once the seeds splutter, lower to a medium high flame and add in the chopped garlic. Fry for 1-2 minutes till the garlic starts turning golden brown.

Add in the chopped onions and fry till they start losing their rawness and start releasing the oil. Now add the turmeric powder, the chilly powder, the cumin powder and the garam masala powder and roast till the masalas start releasing the oil.

Now add in the spinach and fry with the onions, garlic and masalas till it loses water and becomes about half in volume.

To this, add in the cooked toor dal, and salt. Bring to a boil. Add in the lemon juice/ kokum and let it simmer on a low flame for 8-10 minutes. And voila!

Serve hot with steaming rice!

The Dals Week 3: Maharashtrian Aamti

We all know that everyday lunches and dinners are generally full meals with at least one sabzi, dal, roti, and rice and then the add-ons. When having lunch or dinner at home, I eat either roti or rice, and preferably roti (I like rice a little less). Except when there is aamti. Then I will eat some rice, even if it's two morsels, despite how many rotis I have polished off! That's the magic of this everyday Maharashtrian dal for me! There are various recipes for aamti and you can add vegetables such as drumsticks to it, but  I generally make the basic aamti quite often.

This recipe uses goda masala for flavour. Goda masala is made primarily of corriander seeds with small amounts of 10-12 other spices (the recipe varies in each home) such as 2 types of cumin seeds, bay leaves, 2-3 types of red chilly, cloves, 2 types of cardamom, dried coconut etc. It is one of the three basic spice powders used in everyday Maharashtrian cooking, along with turmeric powder and dried red chilly powder. Like in Gujarati cuisine we have dhania-jeera powder with turmeric powder and dried red chilly powder and in Punjabi cuisine there is garam masala apart from turmeric and chilly powder. It is one of the three masala powders the regular seven spice box that we see in almost all Indian homes carries in Maharashtrian homes.

Goda masala can be brought in stores and there is no substitute really to it. Garam masala with the five or six basic spices used in it doesn't come close. If you get goda masala, open it and just take a whiff of the smell of the masala. The notes of pungent, piquant, with an edge of sweet at the end will be proof of what I am talking of! 

Aamti

Ingredients

1 cup toor dal

2 tbsps oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp asafoetida

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 1/2 tsps turmeric powder 

1 1/2 tsps dried red chilly powder

2 tsps goda masala

3-4 dried kokum pieces or 1 1/2 tsp kokum extract

1 tsp jaggery

Salt to taste

Fresh chopped corriander to garnish

Soak the dal in 3 cups of water for at least half an hour. Add salt and turmeric and pressure cook for 3 whistles on high flame and about 5-7 minutes on low flame. Remove and blend to get a thick-soup like consistency.

In a deep pan, heat the oil. Add the cumin and the mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add in the asafoetida powder and the chopped onion. Cook the onion for 3-4 minutes on the medium flame in the tadka. 

Once the onions are reddish, add in the chilly powder and the goda masala and roast for about 2 minutes till the masalas release the oil.

Now add in the cooked dal, the kokum (extract), the salt and the jaggery. Bring it to a boil on high flame and then let it simmer on low flame for 8-10 minutes.

Garnish with chopped corriander and serve hot with steamed rice and a dash of lemon juice!

All it needs is steamed rice and a dash of lemon juice!

The Dals Week 2: Punjabi Mom's Dal Makkhani, Simplified!

Dals Week 2: Punjabi Mom’s Dal Makkhani

Dal makkhani (literally buttery dal) is my standard dal order at a restaurant. I love it for its rich aroma, earthy taste and the melt-in-your-mouth buttery creamy texture. 

At my place dal makkhani, as in any other non-Punjabi home, was a loved-at-restaurants-but- never-tried-at-home recipe. Now that I have a Punjabi neighbor whose mom also had come to visit, I have asked for and tried these recipes by the dozen. 

And the myth is broken! This one, that seems complex, is extremely easy to make and is one of those few that tastes as good as and sometimes even better than the restaurant at home!

Dal Makkhani

Ingredients

1/2 cup black udad dal

1/2 cup masoor dal

1/2 cup rajma (optional)

2 tbsps oil

5-6 cloves of garlic crushed

1 medium-sized onion finely chopped

1 medium-sized tomato finely chopped

1 ½ tsps turmeric powder

1 ½ tsps red chilly powder

2-3 tsps garam masala

20 ml fresh cream (optional)

Salt to taste

Fresh coriander finely chopped to garnish

The dals

And that's all the ingredients you'll need!

Method

Mix the dals and soak them in 2 cups of water for at least 2 hours. If you are using rajma, they will need to be soaked overnight in 3 cups of water.  Cook the dals and rajma  in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles on a high flame and then on a low flame for 10 minutes.

In a deep pan, heat the oil and add the crushed garlic. Cook for about 1 minute till the garlic releases its aroma.

The crushed garlic being fried in the oil

Add the chopped onion and sauté on a medium high flame for 3-4 minutes till they turn reddish.

The reddish colour of the onions on being cooked properly

Add in the chopped tomatoes and sauté on the medium high flame till they start to release the oil.

The oil separating from the tomatoes when they are cooked

Now add the turmeric powder, the red chilly powder and the garam masala powder and roast till the masalas release their flavour and the oil separates.

Adding in the spice powders

Add in the cooked dals and mix them well into the cooked masala. Add a little water to adjust consistency (dal makkhani is supposed to be richly thick in consistency). Add salt to taste and let the dal come to a boil. Then cover the dal and let it simmer on a low flame for 10-15 minutes, the more the patience you have with this the better the flavours will seep into the dal.

The dals being cooked with the masala

If you wish to add in the cream then you can add it at the end, keeping the dal on the low flame and let it simmer for a couple of minutes more.

Garnish with fresh coriander (and a dollop of butter) and serve hot!

Yummy buttery and creamy!

P.S. I just added a side note to a blog post on my other blog today about how simple, everyday things can be complex and profound. And this just turns out to be an example of how complexity can actually be very simple!

P.S. 2.... Since I seem to be having a love affair with dals, it is beautiful serendipity that I found out about the food blog event My Legume Love Affair today. Submitting this entry for it's 61st edition...

As a requirement of all such events, I am sharing their logo. It is one of the better designed ones that I have come across!

Spreading the word about My Legume Love Affair (the event and my personal love affair too!)

The Dals Week 1: Marwari Panchmel Dal

I love dals. They are the main source of protein in our vegetarian kitchens and one of the most comforting foods that you can have on your plate. They are also extremely versatile and adaptable to many uses. In upma, white udad dal is used to add flavour to the bland rawa along with the other spices . My friend's mom makes this amazing farasbee chi bhaaji in which she adds yellow moong dal fried  in the tadka for crunch, adding a new level of texture to the regular bhaji.

This past month I have dug out, discussed, adapted and experimented with different recipes for dals and I will blogging some gems I have discovered this whole week.

Marwari Panchmel Dal

Ingredients

1/4 cup yellow moong dal
1/4 cup green moong dal
1/4 cup chana dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup black udad dal
1 tsp turmeric
2 bay leaves
2 tsps cumin powder

2 tbsps oil or ghee
2 tsps cumin seeds
1 tsp asafoetida powder
3-4 whole cloves
1 green chilly slit
2 dried red chillies
1 medium tomato finely chopped
2 tsps garam masala
Salt to taste
Finely chopped corriander for garnish

Method

Wash the dals thoroughly and soak all the dals in 3 cups of water for at least 2 hours.  After the dals are soaked, add the turmeric powder, bay leaves, cumin powder and salt and 1-2 cups of more water. Pressure cook the dals  with the spices for 3 whistles on high flame and then about 10-15 minutes on a low flame till they are done. Remove the dal mixture from the cooker and fish out the bay leaves and discard them.

The dals with the spices in the pressure cooker

In a deep cooking utensil, heat the oil or the ghee. Add the cumin seeds when the oil is heated. When the cumin seeds start turning red, add in the asafoetida powder, the cloves, the green and the red chillies. Stir these in for about 30 seconds and add in the finely chopped tomato. Let the tomato sautee till they are cooked and start releasing the oil.

The tomatoes cooked in the tadka releasing the oil 

To this add the cooked dal mixture, the garam masala powder and salt as per your taste preference. Bring to a boil on high flame and then let it cook on medium flame for 5-7 minutes and then on low flame for another 10 minutes for the flavours of the spices to seep well into the dals.

The dal mixture being cooked with the tadka and spices

Garnish with chopped fresh corriander and serve this home-y dal with hot steamed rice or fresh fluffy rotis.

The home-y dal on a comforting plate of food

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