Indian Cooking

The first Indian recipe I made was Aloo Gobi from the special features of the Bend It Like Beckham DVD. At that point no one had published it, so I had to keep starting and stopping the DVD while attempting to write it down and guessing at the measurements, since she was not exact. And it took some research to figure out that fresh coriander is the same thing as cilantro. But it is good! Then I took an Indian cooking class at Kalachandji's, a local Indian restaurant. It's a lot of fun. Manjuali Devi, the teacher, demonstrates 3 or 4 recipes for each class, and then we all get to eat it! I couldn't make it one night and persuaded Bill to go in my place. He enjoyed it so much that he signed up for the remainder of the course and we went together. How's that for a fun date! Anyhow, I have a favorite recipe from the last seris of classes that I would like to share. I plan to try it with a small amount of oil instead of butter, but it's so good as is that I haven't done it yet. You will probably have to go up to an Indian food store in Richardson to get the mung (or moong) dal and masoor dal. Mung dal is dried mung beans that have been skinned and split; hence they are yellow, not green. Masoor dal is small red lentils. The other things can be bought at most grocery stores. So here goes:

Yellow Dal Fry

3/4 C mung dal                    1/4 t chili powder
1/4 C masoor dal                  1/2 t garam masala
1/2 T ginger, minced              1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped   3 T ghee (or butter or oil)
1 t cumin seeds                   1/2 C cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 t tumeric                     salt to taste

First boil the dals in about 3 cups water and set aside. If you soak them first, for 3-4 hours, you should be able to mash them a little - or I put a cup of the cooked dal in my mini food processor and pulverized it, then added it back. Heat the ghee and add cumin seeds, ginger,chili powder, jalapeno, garam masala and tomatoes. When tomatoes are well cooked, add to dal and cook to soup consistency. Adjust water as needed. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

I am not a gormet cook. This is easy and good and good for you! Try it.