Good Food!

I recently had Dal Tarka for the first time at my favorite restaurant and I was blown away by how delicious and satisfying this simple dish can be. I came home determined to make my own.

Dal, made from any of a variety of pulses (dried beans or lentils), is a mainstay in South Asian vegetarian cooking. Dal Tarka is made by pouring Tarka over the Dal after it’s been cooked. I made my Dal from yellow split peas.

Tarka is more a method than a list of ingredients. Also called chaunk, bagar, popu and a several other names – Tarka is essentially whole spices fried briefly in oil or ghee to release the essential oils from the spices. The Tarka is then poured into the dal and voila! – Dal Tarka!

I used the Tarka spices from a recipe in my “Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking” by Adiraja dasa. I also used unprocessed, organic peanut oil instead of ghee – so that the end result would be vegan. The peanut oil worked perfectly as a replacement providing the rich flavor that ghee gives – without the butter. The whole spices included:

• a couple of bay leaves
• a cinnamon stick broken in 1/2
• 1 1/2 t. turmeric
• 1 1/2 t. cumin seed
• 1 dried chile, crushed
• 1/4 t. asafetidda
• 2 t. crushed ginger

I squeezed half a lemon into the Tarka before pouring on the dal. Served with Basmati rice, coconut yogurt, cilantro and chutney, it was a meal in itself.

This recipe was hearty, satisfying, rich tasting and also fairly easy and quick. I made mine a bit ahead of time and left it in the oven at low to steep in the curry sauce. Delicious!

from Heaven’s Banquet: Vegetarian Cooking for Lifelong Health the Ayurveda Way by Miriam Kasin Hospodar

4 servings

STEP ONE
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon ghee or oil
Pinch of hing (optional)
3/4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tomatoes, chopped

STEP TWO

1 teaspoon turmeric
3 cups (350 g) green beans, cut into 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) pieces
Salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

1. Heat the ghee or oil in a pot. Add the hing, mustard seeds, and ginger and saute over low heat until the mustard seeds "dance." Add the tomatoes and saute for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until they become mushy.

2. Stir in the turmeric, green beans, a sprinkling of salt, and the water. Cover and simmer until the beans are tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Adjust the salt. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro before serving.

VARIATION For heat, add 1 teaspoon or more black pepper in Step 3 or add cayenne or crumbled red chilies to the ghee or oil in Step 1.

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An Ayurvedic cookbook is an excellent resource for Wheat-free, Yeast-free, Sugar-Free-cooking.  Most recipes happen to avoid all the allergy aggravating culprits but somehow seem less about avoiding bad foods you can’t have and more about eating flavorful appealing food that leaves you feeling good.

A real advantage to the Ayurvedic diet is that it is designed to provide the best possible food choices depending on your body type and personality.  There are many tests on-line, books with descriptions (check your local library) or Ayurvedic practitioners that can help you determine what Ayurvedic type you are.

I’m still experimenting with this myself and hope to know more about the effects of following the ayurvedic diet for my body type (Pitta-Vata) soon.