If you belong to any part of South Asia, you must be familiar with pulses known to us as “Daal”. While there are many different types of “Daal”, its so amazing, that each daal has a distinct taste and way of making it. Each and every type of daal is delicious in its own way.
Types of Daal (Pulses)
For me, daal is the comfort food, which I can have in any form at any time of the day. Generally speaking, Red Lentils is the everyday kind of daal as it takes least amount of time to cook but other varieties are also popular.
My personal Favorite is the Brown Lentils (Kalay Masoor), which are missing in the image above. I have loved this daal since I was as small as I can remember. My mother makes the best Kalay Masoor, and I love the fact that whenever I visit her, she always makes sure to feed me this daal.
So, here I am presenting you, one of my favourite meals that is “Daal Chawal”.
Here, I used brown rice but I like them more with white Basmati rice. I paired my daal chawal meal with a piece of grilled fish, veggies and salad. Its a healthy concoction, and it fills you up for long.
Recipe for Brown Rice:
The brown rice I used here are the Indonesian ones, so for;
1 cup Brown Rice, it takes 3 cups of water
Take a pot and fill it up with water, along with the rice, add 1 tsp of salt, and cook on medium to low heat till there is little water left. Cover the pot and cook on very low heat for 15 minutes. Ready.
Recipe for Brown Lentils (Kaalay Masoor)
1 cup Brown Lentils (soaked for 3-4 hours)
Water to boil (should be 3 finger tips above the daal level)
Salt to taste
Red Chili Powder- 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder 1/4 teaspsoon
Boil the daal with all the ingredients either in pressure cooker (which I did) till the pressure goes down or you can cook on a low heat in pot. This daal takes longer to cook, make sure its presoaked before you boil.
Once the daal is boiled, check how much water it has absorbed, if there’s plenty of water left, cook for some more time, uncovered, while mashing it a bit. When it is thickened to your desired consistency, its time to temper it.
For Tempering:
Garlic Cloves- 5 to 6
Cumin Seeds- 1 teaspoon
Round Red Chili- 1 to 2
Take some oil, and roast your garlic cloves, cut in rounds. Once the garlic is roasted, add cumin seeds and red chili. Add the tempering mixture to the boiled daal. Stir.
Serve with plain boiled Basmati rice.
Fusion Tales 