Every Indian cuisine has a recipe for simple dal. The Konkani version is called Dalithoy. This must be the simplest possible recipe and the one learned by all newbie cooks. There are few versions of this comfort food, based on the region, people use different tampering/ingredients in dal and call it “authentic dalithoy”. At our place, the common dalithoy – which is also a part of almost all festivals and temple meals – is this one . I won’t be exaggerating if I say this is cooked atleast once a week at our home. A slight variation to this is the one with garlic(losney) seasoning. A simple dal cooked with green chillies and then seasoned with garlic. It is a garlic lover’s heaven.
Ingredients: 1 cup toor dal 1 tbl spn chopped garlic A pinch turmeric 4-5 green chillies 1 red chilli Ghee Salt
Method: Cook dal with green chillies and turmeric in pressure cooker till it is mushy. By the back of the spoon, mash it. Heat it with salt and enough water to bring to required consistency. Heat ghee and add garlic, red chilli cut into pieces. Fry till garlic turns slightly brownish. Pour this over dal. Serve hot with rice and a spicy side dish/pickles.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 20mins
We both love ambat(gravy) with garam masala in it. There are many dishes with this traditional paste in it – like mushroom gravy , masoor bhaji , potato bhaji , green peas kurma and many more. At my home, all these dishes are prepared for breakfast with either puris or dosas. V likes to eat them any meal of the day.
So recently when I was running out of ideas to make with spinach, I thought this masala would make a delicious ambat. I wanted to make it like a spinach dal but with a garam masala twist. It came out very delicious. This can go well with rice or chapatis. If you do not have pearl onions, normal onion can be used.
Ingredients: 2 cups spinach 3/4 cup toor dal 1/2 cup pearl onions(sambar onion) A pinch turmeric 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract Oil Salt
Paste: 4 cloves 1″ cinnamon 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1 tea spn garlic 1/2 cup onion 5 red chillies 1/4 cup tomato
Method: Heat oil and add cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds, garlic and onions. Fry till onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, red chillies and fry for few more minutes. Grind to a paste. Cook toor dal with enough water and turmeric till it is cooked. Mash it with the back of a spoon. Cook spinach till it is soft. Add it to cooked toor dal. Add salt, paste, tamarind, mix and let it cook for 3-4mins. Take off the heat. Heat oil and add pearl onions. Fry for few minutes. Pour this over dal. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
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