Recipe Dal with five kinds of veg

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

This is from The Dal Cookbook ( Author Krishna Dutta). It's one of only 2 books on my bookshelves that contain meat & fish recipes.
The information regarding the recipe is that five is an auspicious number for the Hindus,with this recipe often cooked as temple food. The authentic vegetables are green plantain, a long white radish called mooli, aubergine, pumpkin and snake gourd.

Moong Dal with 5 vegetables

• SatNavSaysStraightOn
• 3 Feb 2022

Mung beans with sweet potato, potato, courgette, carrot & parsnips with a little cauliflower...

However I am using locally grown veg and seasonal at that. The local shop didn't have and aubergine yesterday, so I'm mixing and matching. local sweet potatoes, my own potatoes, my own courgette, carrots & parsnips. I ended up adding the remains of a cauliflower stalk & florets as well. The recipe is pretty simple but does involve Iots of spices. Try to cut the veg into bite sized pieces that cook in the same time. If you're adding veg that cooks in half the time other veg cooks in, seperate them into two batches to add at intervals, so that everything is cooked at the same time. On my case, i added the sweet potato, courgette & cauliflower 5 minutes after the potato, carrot & parsnip.

Ingredients
100g mung beans (moong dal)
1tbsp Olive oil
½tsp fennel seeds
2 fresh bay leaves
500g bite sized veg. (separate different cooking times if needed)
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp ground chilli (use less if you don't like it hot)
1½ tbsp ground cumin
1½ tbsp ground coriander
200g soy yoghurt
4tbsp fine chickpea flour
1 thumb grated ginger (I recommend you puree it)
100g coconut cream/milk (optional if the dish is too hot/spicy)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 finely sliced red or green chilli
Seasoning to taste

Method

1. Boil the mung beans in a saucepan until just cooked - watch them carefully you don't want to overcook them. Mine took around 30 minutes as a guide.
2. Whisk the chickpea flour and the ginger into the soy yoghurt.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the fennel seeds & the bay leaves and fry for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the vegetables (if divided into a cooking times, only add the longer cooking time veg). Add the ground spices and fry for another minute or two until fragrant. Now add enough water to just cover all the veg (guess your veg is divided into two). Now Add the yoghurt mixture and mix well. The mixture will thicken as it heats up. Cook over a low heat for 10 minutes (if your veg is divided into cooking times, add the extra after 5 minutes).
4. taste & if the dish is too spicy hat, add some of the coconut cream/milk as needed. (Tip - freeze any unused if opening a fresh tin. I freeze it in 100g batches for ease.)
5. Just before serving add the mung beans, lemon juice, fresh chilli and seasoning.

In The Skillet

• SatNavSaysStraightOn
• 3 Feb 2022

In The Skillet

• SatNavSaysStraightOn
• 3 Feb 2022

 

[Morning Glory]

I wasn't expecting this dish from the title. I absolutely love dal but I don't think this is dal. A dal as far as I know is a dish made with lentils and spices. This is boiled mung beans (which can be made into a dal) served alongside vegetables in creamy curry sauce.

Now that is not to say that its not an interesting recipe. But I'm surprised this comes from a book about dal. I'm interested to know what karadekoolaid makes of this, as I know he is knowledgeable about Indian food.

I do like the idea of using root vegetables in a dal, by the way. I'm not sure why I've never done so before - so this ha given me ideas.

The vegetable curry is made in an interesting way. I've never come across whisking grated ginger and chickpea flour (gram flour) into yoghurt and then adding it. Usually, ginger will be cooked in oil/ghee at an earlier stage. I'm curious to try this technique.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I wasn't expecting this dish from the title. I absolutely love dal but I don't think this is dal. A dal as far as I know is a dish made with lentils and spices. This is boiled mung beans (which can be made into a dal) served alongside vegetables in creamy curry sauce

I'm not sure that your definition of dal is correct.
The word 'dal' actually means 'split'. It is applied to edible dried pulses, lentils & beans, not just lentils.
The word has also came to denote the whole kernel with or without the skin in a cooked dish.

Just think about Chana dahl (or gram dahl). Chana is chickpea. Chana dal is not only a dish, but also used to describe a split, skinned chickpea.
Moong dal are split, skinned mung/moong beans
Toor or arhar dahl are the split, skinned pigeon pea
matar dahl are the split skinned matar pea.

This recipe specified "100g green moong dal" which is the whole moong dahl also known as mung beans. Other dishes specify "400g split yellow moong dal" and clearly refer to the split, skinned version of moong dal or mung beans.

The recipe is from Gujarat, cooked as a temple food to be offered to the diety and later shared with the disciples. It is a traditional Hindu dish when made with the authentic veg I gave in the info above.

This is boiled mung beans (which can be made into a dal) served alongside vegetables in creamy curry sauce.

5. Just before serving add the mung beans, lemon juice, fresh chilli and seasoning.

The mung beans are meant to be added in step 5. I simply couldn't fit them into the skillet (which I'm certain I mentioned somewhere, just not in this thread apparently) and mix them in because the skillet, as you can see, was too full. So we mixed them in afterwards in the bowl, and after the first serving was removed from the skillet the beans were mixed in and are now part of the dish.

I'll add an updated photo later today or tomorrow.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I agree with Satnav here: a dal is simply a split pulse or something similar. I use masoor (pink lentils) dal, mung dal (whole or split or sprouted), toor (pigeon peas) tal - sometimes the oily version, chana (chickpeas) dal,various types or urid dal (white, yellow, black). Additionally dal is often applied to any soupy - like dish containing lentils.
Obviously, ask anyone who´s ever been to a Curry Inn what dal is and they´d immediately tell you it´s made with orange lentils!

 

[Morning Glory]

I think there is a difference between 'dal' used as the title of a dish and 'dal' as an ingredient. Of course I know that dal is a split pulse! But if I order dal in an Indian restaurant I don't expect to get a plate of plain boiled lentils or moong dal or chana dal. It may well be that dal as a dish, is how its understood in the UK but I think in India the word dal is also used this way. Indeed I don't think dal the ingredient would ever be served plain.

When we talk about Dals, Dal Fry and Dal Tadka are the most popular Dal Recipe that most of us make at home or order at a restaurant. Dal Makhani, Maa Ki Dal and Panchmel Dal are other popular Dal recipes from across India which are made in many North Indian households. Rajma Chawal or Chole Chawal, are classic combination in North India, and you will even find them on the street of Delhi, especially during Winter.

184 Delicious Collection of Indian Dal Recipes That You Must Try In Your Kitchen

I think my confusion mainly arose from the photo which shows it being served separately alongside the vegetables.