Went to the Indian shop around the corner and bought some more Masoor Dal, Moong Dal, Toor Dal, and some Urid (whole) – some kind of tiny black beans, plus some real curry leaves. Now I just need to find some tasty recipies on the net.
Let’s see whether Google is any good as cook-book. First hit is Ethnic Cuisine: India. I enjoyed reading this very small excursion into the historical background of Indian cuisine and how it explains some of the existing variety. I would like to try the *Urid Ki Dal* they suggest. Need to find *canola oil* or just try ordinary oil... (What is “ordinary” oil? I’d use peanut oil for frying and olive oil for taste...). What’s worse, however: I don’t have *tamarind concentrate*!
This is what I used instead. Totally improvised. ;)
Later... Took longer than expected! About an hour... 🙁 Next time, no curry leaves and no crushed chili powder. I’ll have to check the Urid more carefully, because I’ve bitten on several whole black peppers. It gave the entire thing an element of surprise...
#Cooking #India
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Cooking and India is always a good topic. Memories came up. I spent a two years in India. In Ashok Hotel in Delhi they served in the coffee shop a dish with urid and pasta. Was always jamy.
– PeetTheEngineer 2004-10-09 05:46 UTC
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😃
I was expecting some pictures here, but anyway. Few tips from the master (heh..... kidding)
1. It does take a lot of time to cook whole urid. May be you should try with pressure cooker.
2. You should use at the most 5 curry leaves.
3. I like it with the chili powder...
4. peanut oil is perfect (use 1 spoonful of it, not the tiny bit and it needs to be hot).
5. and yes, scan your dal *very* carefully.... there might be lot of other things, not just black peppers 😉
PS - You are a great cook. I liked your improvisations.
– V 2004-10-11 04:44 UTC
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Thanks for your kind words, and for the suggestions! 😄 Too many curry leaves, I see. A pressure cooker is what I need. Other unnamed geeks wish for notebooks and PDAs, I wish for a pressure cooker!
Yesterday I cooked some Moong dal using the same procedure as last time... (2004-09-01 Cooking) – much better than using Masoor!
– Alex Schroeder 2004-10-11 10:48 UTC
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Geek with a pressure cooker... sounds k3w1
Hmmmm, I wonder why are you trying to make *dal* with every-possible-dal-available... In fact, I have never tried Masoor dal myself. May be I should try it too. 😃
– V 2004-10-12 06:46 UTC
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Well, here in Switzerland there are basically just “brown lentils” and traditionally you make soup out of it. Maybe add some potatoes to the soup, maybe some tomatos, usually some bacon (yuck!)... ¹ Then a year or two ago I found a recipe for a turkish lentil soup that added some lemon juice at the end. And suddenly lentils were very interesting again, because the soup tasted so different.
As a vegetarian, I also feel the obligation to try and get some essential amino acids from lentils ² as I don’t eat tofu that often...
And, most important of all: I want to *know*!!
– Alex Schroeder 2004-10-12 10:50 UTC