Have you ever imagined a dish which will be having both adequate and essential nutrients, also a rich and fine taste and also easy to cook? Well, nowadays its difficult to satisfy your tastebuds, while being stuck to healthy food habits. It may sound ridiculous, if I say that a dish with all the veggies, having several vitamins and minerals can also be good in taste and so easy to make. Yes, its possible. Dalma is one such dish from the cuisine of Odisha, enrichened with both goodness of various vegetables also being a treat to the tongue.
No meal in Odisha is complete without Rice and Dalma, the staple food of its people. Dalma is a certain variation from the Dal. It’s a dish made of Toor dal and consists of vegetables like potato, eggplant, papaya, unripe banana, pumpkin, shallots, sweet potato, beans, broad beans, spinach, tomato, carrot, radish, pointed gourd, colocassia and any other vegetable one like. It is tempered with cumin, hing etc, gave a sprinkle of roasted cumin powder, chilli flakes and garnished with grated coconut. Astonished right! Yes, this is the wonder of Odia cuisine, roofing all the essence of vegetables available in hand giving rise to an authentic and sublime taste which keeps people bound to it even after the meal.
There is no doubt that Dalma offers a variety of tastes to the tongue in a single bite. Flavours burst inside your mouth once it is inside. The wholeness of dal, cooked to perfection, the sweetness of carrots and pumpkin, the spicy tang of chilli flakes, the crunch of coconut and all the coarse gravy having all the flavours drained into it.
One can add the vegetables which he or she likes and leave the rest. The cooking procedure is also as simple as normal dal. All the vegetables are pressure cooked with the dal with some salt and turmeric. Once cooked, it is tempered with some ghee, shallots, hing, and cumin seeds, giving a facelift to the boiled lot. Again, added with some roasted cumin powder and chilli flakes, the dish comes to play with different flavours and aroma. Lastly garnishing it with coconut gives it a rich and juicy taste.
Dalma can be termed as the most versatile dish, which can be taken with both rice and roti or parathas. Whichever may the dish it is taken with, Dalma will definitely emerge as the show stopper. The easy and fast cooking technique, the fullness of vitamins and minerals and again the heavenly delicious taste all this make Dalma one of the most healthy and popular dishes of
Odisha.
Ingredients :
1/4th cup toor dal 1/4th cup moong dal 2 medium potatoes cubed 2 medium arbi cubed 2 small eggplant cubed 100gms pumpkin cubed 2 tomatoes cubed 1 tbsp ginger crushed 2 red chillies 1/4th tsp Hing 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp jeera/cumin seeds 1/2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp Haldi Salt as per taste Coriander leaves 2 tbsp Ghee
Method:
Put the vegetables and dal in a pressur cooker with turmeric and salt. Add 2 cups of water. Pressure cook it for 2 whistles over low medium heat. You can boil it in a deep bottom pan also.
Now heat a kadai. Add ghee. Then add bay leaves, red chilies, hing, cumin seeds. Fry over low heat for 2 minutes.
Now add crushed ginger. Fry until ginger becomes brown.
Now add the boiled vegetables with dal. Let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add rosted cumin seed powder. Put sugar. Give it a stir. Now add chopped coriander leaves.
You can adjust the consistency of Dalma as per your choice by adding water or by boiling it for more time.
You can enjoy Dalma with rice or parathas.
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