GREEN TOMATO DAL

DAL / LENTIL CURRY BECAME A PART OF MY DAILY LIFE RIGHT FROM WHEN I STARTED TO HAVE SOLID FOOD!

There was no social media then, neither the tagline "Dal, the ultimate Comfort Food"! Socialisation in those days meant cooking a special dish in bulk and distributing it to the neighbourhood homes, neighbourly women chitchatting in the evening for sometime. Their was a seasonal dal, "Garui er Dal" that would come from our landlord's home. We are Bangals but this did not happen in our family! The relationship with the landlady was really good, with the family too. They got scared when we were not leaving even after staying over a decade! At this juncture in life, I feel it was our parent's fault forcefully staying there for 19 years! So, Dal was in it's own right a part of life. It may not be so that all Bengali Homes cooked dal every day but maximum of the families did! Our family definitely did. T's mother did not, going out for chat sessions or calling in friends would have got delayed else. Her daughter got to be more like our family; after office she would be at home and devote her time entirely up keeping her household. In fact, both of her boy & girl have known the value of money, keeps away from unnecessary talks; unlike her! But she hardly used to cook eversince I entered their home. There was a whole timer, young girl who would cook daily, she would cook dal because some of us needed it. I was learning to cook then and refused to cook unless I was given full freedom in the kitchen; which mother-in-laws hardly can! Yes, my brother's wife stays with our mother but our mother does not sit and give dictates; she works all day, but until the afternoon. After her late lunch, she would switch on the television and sleep, wake, again sleep until the dinner time! Moreover, my brother's wife stays mostly with her ailing parents, she need not have to do much for our mother; who by God's Grace is too active till date! The lady was saying she too needs dal every day! Right, I remember now! Twenty Three years I am out of that home, I hardly can remember the nitty gritty! Since the brother's marriage, I have taken a stand I would not interfere much in that home's affairs!

HOW DO I ENJOY MY DAL?

I love it a lot, consider it the best of all soups one can have. We are that section of the Bengalis who enjoy their lentil curries a bit soupy if having with rice! Many a times, I had it with roti too! Once the son turned a year old, I depended more on a home cooked dal & rice instead of Cerelac; I have mentioned this several times. It was also easy for me to feed the unwilling son a semi liquid rice-dal-vegetables mash! I have seen other mothers not adding salt, spices, chillies until a ripe age. My son got used to the regular food since age three; thereafter he ate what we eat!It was surprising, on his recent visit he was wanting rice & dal & a meat or fish that is deboned! More surprising was that he served himself eggs this time. He was not fond of eggs as his father! Does it mean he is not eating enough, or rationing food or getting bored of the food variety available? You would not get an answer from my son! This mother sits quiet in sorrow but does not stop eating! What else to do in life? Yesterday's lunch was a Bengali rice platter; dinner was "porota o aloo potol er dalna".

Since this morning, I was restless! There came a mechanic too, the clock struck 2 pm & I felt I must go for a swim. Too hungry did I feel, had quite a few ribbon twists! This is where I go wrong and unable to resist! Around 4 pm, I had the above lunch! Now Cristine went to get either chicken or veg pies for both of us to have with our hot beverages. I would have Kopi Halia Kosong / Ginger Coffee without sugar & milk! For dinner? Luchi & Lobia Curry; the latter was cooked last to last Saturday, would get spoilt! We need to finish the cooked food before cooking some soups!

WHAT IS THIS GREEN TOMATO DAL?

The truth is we may not be eating green tomato for generations. Whilst our stay in DumDum, one day the mother got some unripe tomatoes and cooked with posto / poppy seed paste! She heard about it from someone else. She would get it rarely, I do not remember if she cooked a lentil curry with it or not. But with the onset of spring, bitter dal / lentil curries were made; and with the start of summer, sour dal. Sour lentil curries & fish curries were done regular in our family! Like in February, "topa kul er dal" was made, I vividly remember! It is lentil with the unripe, sour jujube! I crave to get those almost extinct recipes to the blog but I need to get the ingredients in hand, why not cook a lentil curry, a soupy vegan, gluten-free one with unripe tomatoes? Here we go with a tasty, vegetarian, dal recipe GREEN TOMATO DAL! I would suggest the mother to do it with matar dal / split pea dal, wish I could courier a bowlful for the son! T eats dal if served with pakora or with flat or puffed breads! His issue is either he would have fish-meat-egg curry & dal, pakora or a non-veg curry and a mochar ghonto or echorer dalna! You cannot feed him all of them. His father too likes dal; our father is no more with us, loved sour dal or North Indian Dals with breads. Let us proceed with the easy recipe, Cristine too got potato patty for us! I do not feel motivated enough to slim down! I remember our visit to Rajasthan & a bit of Gujarat in 1996 with the parents and their friends' group! I and the mother ate so much of a tiny variety of jujube, she called "shey kul" with chilli-salt that we were caught up with stomach ailments! Do not know if bhai remembers it or not! Its age that is taking me back to the incidents not considered important earlier!

I am happy that T does not bother me much, I cannot stand over bearing people. Perhaps, the son finds me a bit over bearing! Let the life flow, isko pakar ke mat rakkha karo!

INGREDIENTS :

SPLIT PEA LENTIL / MATAR DAL : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

GREEN UNRIPE TOMATO : 2 STANDARD SIZED

DRY RED CHILLI : 2 HALVED

GREEN CHILLI : 3-4 SLITTED

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 1/4 TSP

MUSTARD OIL  OR PLAIN OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

If we can wash & soak the matar dal in hot water for 2-3 hours and boil in a deep bottomed vessel over slow flame, the taste of the lentil curry would be way better! But I pressure cooked to boil the dal.

I think I do not know the proper use of a pressure cooker, I mean I cannot work without the valve. I think that matters a lot. Here is what I did!

I had washed the lentils 2-3 times, took in the pressure cooker and added about 3-4 coffee mugs of water to it. To that, I added a bit of salt & the turmeric.

I gave a stir, closed tight the lid and pressure cooked at minimal heat up to 2 whistles!

I did let the lid open by itself, used a stirrer to even the boiled dal!

In a wok, I heated up the wok and tempered it with the mustard seeds, halved dry red chillies & a bay leaf!

I added the boiled dal to it! I added 2 coffee mugs of water to the pressure cooker bowl, and then added it to the wok.

While the dal was slow cooking, I had washed and cut each tomato into 4 pieces, slitted & washed the green chillies too!

I added them to the boiling dal and increased the heat from low to the medium.

Once the tomato pieces are half melt, we would add the sugar & adjust the salt!

Enjoy it warm with rice or roti! Get some fries & a non-veg curry!