Dal Panchratan - A mughlai affair

We as a family love to travel and collect memorabilia and some unique things to that particular place, although I was never keen on traveling but seeing my hubby’s deep desire to learn and explore different places, I too started gaining an interest , we now love to travel and like to take breaks as frequently as his work permits. He is not an impulse planner but rather plans very meticulously about our schedule and packing is done way ahead of our date of travel. This is something I was not so keen on but gradually found that if I resort to last minute packing I happen to miss out on so many things that would otherwise make a big difference.

Since we love to collect things that are unique to that place, my husband always carries an extra empty backpack to carry things back. On our last trip to India we had visited Delhi and Mumbai before hopping over to our home state Orissa. It was an awesome visit and my maiden visit to Taj mahal was so memorable and will forever be cherished. It is definitely one of the greatest wonders of the world and the feeling of standing near the white marbled structure is one of pure peace and absolute serenity. Delhi has so many historical places on offer to visit and it is fun to travel and feel the pulsing city and its enchanting food. We had a great experience eating at Bukhara, one of the most renowned restaurants in Delhi widely known for its awesome food.

Shopping was also great in Gurgaon a developing satellite city close to Delhi & has an array of malls lined up. I picked up few cookbooks and my hubby picked a cookbook featuring the cuisines of Indian Maharajas. The cuisines are very rich in spices and truly unique, I have tried few recipes and one simple recipe is the Dal Panchratan. It is a great combination of five dals (lentils) cooked and seasoned with spices.

Adapted from cooking delights of the Maharajas by Digvijaya Singh

Ingredients
1/2 cup yellow lentils (toovar dal)
½ cup red lentils (masoor dal)
½ cup split grams (channa dal)
½ cup split green beans (moong dal)
½ cup split black beans (urad dal)
1 medium onion chopped
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon garlic crushed
2 dry red chilies
½ teaspoon crushed coriander seeds
1 tablespoon Garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1tablepoon ghee/ butter
1teaspoon turmeric
Lemon juice and coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method
In pan sauté the moong dal (green beans) with out oil for couple of minutes. Soak channa dal and urad dal for 30 minutes. In a pressure cooker cook all the dals together adding water (approx 3 cups) and turmeric. Cook till done giving it 2 to 3 pressure.

In pan heat butter/ ghee, splutter cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and dry chilies. Add chopped onions and sauté till translucent. Add ginger and garlic and sauté for couple of minutes. Add the cooked dal, cover and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Add more water if needed. Garnish it with garam masala, lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Roti, rice or Naan. So now even if we can’t ever live like the Maharaja’s at least we can try and cook a meal fit for one.

This recipe is my contribution to legume-love-affair held by Bricole brainchild of Susan The Well-Seasoned Cook.