Thinking back to every mealtime at home with my parents, at either grandparents or aunts growing up in Pakistan, I don’t think even one meal was ever without a daal on the table. It was like an honoury member of a club – someone who just had to be allowed in as his entire family had served for decades – I never quite got this daal fascination in my household, because growing up I can quite remember an immense loathing for this sloppy excuse of a meal. I found it, well just boring. My father to this day, finds a meal painfully incomplete without our sloppy friend on the table. As memory serves it, I remember many a time my father asking where food was, seeing the absence of lentil at dinner.
However, with time and subtle persuasion I found what wonders of life I was missing by dismissing this humble legume. My mother has always been a fantastic cook so it wasnt here lack of making a delectable daal that turned me off, my Dadi’s (Dad’s mom) household being originally from the U.P region of India, were huge daal eaters (might be where Daddy got his obsession from) and my Nani’s (Mum’s mother) side were Punjabi descent; mixed everything remotely lentil with meat or some other vegetable – never could they consume anything in it’s virgin state – such is the Muslim Punjabi culinary mind set! However, I have to admit that my learning to cook daal finally was due to a realisation that I actualy quite enjoyed the wholesome satisfying combination of daal and roti or daal and chawaal (rice) – the ultimate comfort food I soon discovered, at minimal cost and one that gave you so much more than just a full belly of warm heartiness. I slowly understood that not only was it a cheap option to cook it also was such an experimental, food-proof and quick fix that my ‘daal-negative’ mind slowly converted and I appealed to my mother for recipes. I learnt many from my grandmothers’ but to me my Mum’s blasé, non-commital recipes always worked well, because well, she never quite ever had just one recipe she could ever reproduce as she threw in everything but the kitchen sink into her daal – and it always tasted like heaven on a plate. So my best daal memories go back to the nuttiness of cooked daal enhanced with the rich ghee scented aromas of tempering with cumin and whole dried chillis…And most importantly, curry leaves – an essence of home, I remember the wafts of this pungent tree weaving through my senses as I used to walk through my Dadi’s gate – her big curry leaf tree stood there with pride and it’s intoxicating scent. I always find a reason to use curry leaves when I can.
My favourite daal has to be Chaana – yes it’s take a bit more love and time than most others and the trick would be that if you own a pressure cooker, cook it in that, or else soak overnight and be a bit more patient when cooking this one. I personally do not like pressure cookers, to me I grew up hearing one annoyingly whistling away on my Dadi’s old gas burner, all food cooked in it tastes similar in flavour and lacks the patience of slaving away at a hob, which is the only thing I believe I have the patience for – so why loose that skill? Here is my improvised recipe from a basic one of my Mums’ – be adventurous with it – make it yours – a daal is to be owned, cherished and thanked.
Prep and cooking time: overnight soaking of channa daal and about 30-40 minutes cooking and prep
Serves: About 6-8 people
Ingredients:
150 g channa lentil
2-3 cloves of garlic – sliced
1 stick of cinnamon
salt to taste
1/2 tsb turmeric
1 tsb red chilli powder
For the tempering:
Ghee
1 tsb cumin seeds
2 long dried red chilli or round red chilli
2 cloves of sliced garlic
1- curry leaves, fresh if possible
Garnish:
A handful of ready fried brown onions
1/2 bunch coriander
Slivers of ginger
1 tsp garam masala
Method:
1. Begin with boiling the soaked daal in enough water to cover the lentil and add garlic, red chilli powder, turmeric and cinnamon stick. Boil until the daal softens and you may need to top up water every now and then. Add salt once cooked. You are looking for a firm and not mushy daal.
2. To temper, take daal out into a serving dish and in a small pan heat the ghee, add the cumin and allow to splutter, next a the garlic, when brown add read chillis followed by the curry leaves and quickly pour over the daal.
3. To serve, sprinkle with coriander, ginger, fried brown onions and garam masala. Best served hot with rice or roti.
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