Kids Corner

Cuisine

Langar Di Daal

by VIVEIK OBEROI

 

My favourite dish: I've newly turned vegetarian, so that throws all the non-vegetarian dishes out of the window for now.

I love anything Punjabi, so it's hard for me to choose - kaali daal, raajma chaawal, pulao, makki di roti with sarson da saag.

My favourite place to eat is, honestly, the gurdwara, I love the langar da khaana - I don't know what's the secret ingredient in their kaali daal; maybe it's faith, maybe it's love. The best daal in the world is at The Golden Temple!

My favoured cuisine: Earlier, it used to be sushi but now that I'm vegetarian, it has to be Lebanese for the sheer freshness of their vegetables and ingredients. I think it beats Indian vegetarian food because we dunk everything in masala and can only taste the masala. I think it's important to be able to taste the vegetable.

My non-food passions: I love to watch great performances in cinema and all the arts - watching classical dances and ballet. I also have a passion for poetry - Neruda, Rumi, and I also write some myself.

Best meal I've ever had: I was in Mayo College and was hitchhiking with a bunch of my friends - we used to do a lot of mad trips. We got onto the back of one of those empty cement-carrying trucks and it was freezing winter. We reached Kurukshetra and somewhere between Kurukshetra and Ambala, the driver stopped at a dhaba and announced: 'main to idhar hi khaoonga' - ‘This is where I will eat!"

Those paranthas were the most amazing I've ever had - crisp coverings and melt-in-your-mouth aaloo (potato) which was not the saada (plain) aloo stuffing -perfect masala and big dollops of home white makhan (butter) - no Amul butter here - along with the most perfect channe-aur-saunf ka aam ka aachar.

The lassi was the tadka maarke lassi and came literally in pitchers.

The best part was the bill, which was only Rs 4.50 (10 cents) per head. After eating, we were so stuffed we just had to lie down on the cots there and stare at the sky - we couldn't move!

Ingredients for Maah/Urad di Daal
I Black maah/urad daal (whole) I 02 kg/ White butter I 02 kg / Tomato puree I 02/ Tin ginger-garlic paste I 300 gm/ Red chilly paste I 300 gm/ cream I 200 ml/ Kasuri methi powder I 03 tbs/ Salt to taste

Procedure
I Thoroughly wash black urad daal, and then soak it for two hours.
I Boil the daal over night on tandoor (alternately pressure cook till soft).
I Next day, add ginger garlic paste, red chilli paste, tomato puree and white butter in the daal and cook it on a slow fire till well done.
I Finish it with kasuri methi and cream.

 

[Article, courtesy: Times of India. Recipe, courtesy: J.W. Marriott, Mumbai]

October 15, 2009

Conversation about this article

1: I.J. Singh (New York, U.S.A.), October 15, 2009, 8:03 PM.

True that we tend to dunk everything in masaala and that taste dominates. I think spices in food should be like instruments at a chamber music concert where you can follow the patterns that each weaves, and not like instruments at a rock music concert that blow both the mind and the ears with their megavolume. Yet, the langar food remains something special indeed.

2: Dupinder Kaur Sidhu (New Jersey, U.S.A.), October 16, 2009, 10:37 AM.

Your article is making me miss all the delicious Punjabi food. I am sure "Langar di kali dal" tops the favourite food list for most people. It has to be the love and all the seva of people that assist in making it. As far as over-spicing food, I think it is more of a restaurant style. In Punjabi home cooking on a day to day basis, people are not very heavy with spices. I remember at our home it was salt, turmeric and cumin with all vegetables. And fresh green chili peppers for spice. But anytime special meals for guests were prepared, masalas and ghee/oil was used generously. I agree, nothing in the world is better than stuffed tandoori paranthas from a dhaba.

3: Amitoj  (U.S.A.), October 16, 2009, 4:44 PM.

I agree with Dupinder's comment. I grew up eating lots of fresh vegetables as salad with dal-roti. Lot of fresh fruits as well. We ate mildly spiced, pure home-cooked food, with lots of lentils (daals). I would say I ate healthier in India than here in the U.S.. Because most Indian restaurants in the U.S. serve Punjabi food that is spiced up (masalas, colours and chilies), the impression is that all Punjabi cuisine is like that. Sure, in the villages they do overdo the sugar and salt ... but the same can be said about shakes and cookies here in the U.S.. Punjabi food has such a variety of daals (lentils) and usually does not include red meat, so it is healthy cuisine if cooked properly.

4: Gurjender Singh (Maryland, U.S.A.), October 19, 2009, 10:04 AM.

The main difference between langar di dal in India and outside (U.S.A., Canada, U.K., etc.) is the use of oil, ghee or butter. In India, the daal is healthy because it contains a minimum amount of oil or ghee (probably because they are expensive). On the other hand, the daal in the diaspora is full of oil and butter. Moderation is always better for health.

5: G.K.Dandona  (Ambala, India), October 27, 2009, 1:46 AM.

This Maah di daal is benificial in making us healthy. The 'secret' taste of Langar di daal is due to naam simran done while cooking it. Even at home, you can enjoy the same taste in any food if you do simran while cooking anything at home or anywhere.

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