Be it ever so humble, there's no dish like daal

My love affair with daal started with the childhood daal chawal lunches. I remember aromatic platters of white boiled rice with a clove peeking from here and a cinnamon stick from there. We would happily pour the garlic tempered daal out of a gravy boat onto the rice and pig out till we could eat no more.

The drier version, or what my mother called the phareri type of daal, was eaten with roti and salad, chutney or a relish. As I grew up I learnt that daal has probably as many versions as communities, languages and dialects in the sub-continent.

For the uninitiated there are five main daals to choose from. Masoor, which is usually round and orange, the unpolished version is dark brown and healthier as it contains lots of iron. Mung is sort of oval in shape and a lemon yellow when polished and green when unpolished. Then there is maash or urad which is white, quite glutinous and gooey when cooked, popularly used for making South Indian food and dahi baras. The oily, round yellow grains are known as toor daal in South India but arhar in North India and Pakistan. Lastly there is the channa daal, or split pea, which is a lighter yellow.

Daals or pulses are 20 to 25 per cent protein by weight, which is double the protein content of wheat and three times that of rice. For this reason, pulses are sometimes called 'poor man's meat;' this protein is also easily digested and absorbed by the system.

My chiropractitioner swears by the magic of mung. Once, when I went to him complaining of aching legs and feet he quoted a Gujrati saying 'mug barhaye pug' meaning mung strengthens the legs, and recommended khichri made of this daal. Point noted.

There are hundreds of daal recipes around, using different spices as well as lemon juice, tamarind, raw mango, and kokum to add flavour. Dollops of asli ghee, butter and fresh cream are used to make rich daal based concoctions. Addition of vegetables and meats make mouth watering daalchas and daal gosht that taste delicious both with rice or roti. Tempering or bhagaar with garlic, sliced onions, cumin, green chilli, whole red chilli and curry leaves can vastly alter and improve the taste.

While daal generally brings to mind a savoury dish, it can be used for making desserts as well. A friend recently told me about her obsession with mung daal halwa and indeed daals can be cooked into the most amazing halwas and mithai for those with a chronic sweet tooth, like me.

Despite its many types, versatility and variation, daal paired with roti remains etched in our minds as 'poor man's food' which is rather ironic considering that the prices of lentils and pulses are shooting up like everything else. And then there are recipes like the rich daal makhni with oodles of butter and cream, simmered all night with garam masala, and ginger in a base of onions and tomatoes; now how is that a poor man's meal? But if you like your daal the simple, old fashioned way, below is a recipe for phareri mung daal,a dry daal which is easy to cook, served with chapattis and mint chatni and kachoomar as accompaniments for a light summer day lunch. Just the way mom used to make it.

Phareri daal

Mung daal, 250g
Salt, 1/3 tsp
Red chilli, 1 tsp
Garlic paste, 1 tsp
Turmeric, ½ tsp
Freshly ground black pepper, ½ tsp
Cloves, 3-4
Cinnamon stick, (about 2 inches)
Water, 2-3 cups
Oil, 3-4 tbs

Wash daal. Heat oil, add cinnamon and cloves; sauté for about two minutes then add garlic paste and all other spices except black pepper.

Add daal and enough water so that it rises to about an inch above the surface of the daal.

Cover and cook on low heat. When all water dries up, turn off the gas. Add crushed black pepper and a dollop of butter or asli ghee and cover. Serve with chapattis.

Mint chutney

Mint, 1 bunch
Green chillies, 3-4
Salt, ¼ tsp
Garlic, 2-3 cloves, optional
Lemon half for juice, optional

Pick the leaves from the bunch of fresh green mint. Crush everything together in a pestle mortar or blender with a little amount of water. Serve as an accompaniment with the daal.

Kachoomar

Tomato 1
Onion 1
Green chilli 1
Mint leaves, handful
Cucumber, half
Lemon juice, 1 tsp
Salt, a pinch
Red chilli, a pinch

Chop everything into small pieces. Add lemon juice, salt and red chilli. Mix and serve.