Bottle Gourd on the Menu Again

Yesterday I wrote about discovering Bottle Gourd, aka Lauki in Hindi, Sorekkai in Tamil and lots of other names in other Indian languages. The dry curry (Lauki Sabzi / Sorekkai Poriyal) was absolutely excellent in flavor, and meanwhile, I had another bottle gourd to use, so I went recipe searching again. After reading three recipes out there (here, here and here) for recipes using bottle gourd mixed in with dal, I came up with a compromise between them and made myself a stupendously flavored lunch! 

Lauki Toor Dal or Sorekkai Kootu

The new recipe I was composing was a combination of bottle gourd and "dal," or one of the split, peeled lentils or grams commonly used in Indian recipes. Two of the recipes called for chana dal (split, peeled "Bengal Gram," which actually starts out as a small brown chickpea) and another one called for moong dal (split, peeled mung beans), while one of the first two also mentioned the possibility of using toor dal (split, peeled pigeon peas). I have loved all the dal recipes I have made and eaten to date, and yet one of my favorites is toor dal / pigeon peas. I opted then to use these for the dal part of my recipe.

Another thing that came up was a new term. As it happens, I have spent some days trying to compose a table of Indian foods with their corresponding names in Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. I have run out of paper width in my table, so if I plunge into any more languages, it will need to be a new document. Once I began looking at recipes for this bottle gourd and dal style of recipe, it turned out that it seems pretty common, having found a northern, Punjabi recipe and a couple of more in southern style. Only some few ingredients would indicate region, such as coconut or Sambar Powder. One southern style from Tamil introduced the word "Kootu," which simply means an Indian stew of lentils and vegetables. 

Bottle Gourd or Lauki or Sorekkai

As there are really very few differences in these recipes, whether northern or southern Indian, I used the ingredients I liked most or had on hand, such as the Sambar Powder. Some recipes called for Garam Masala instead, and I had that also, but to date, the only use I've made of my Sambar Powder is to make Sambar. And I love it. But to find a new use for Sambar Powder was great - just as my use of Idli Powder/Idli Podi in the bottle gourd recipe I posted yesterday.

How to Pick and Use Bottle Gourd / Lauki / Sorekkai

If you have not read my post of yesterday, on the topic of Bottle Gourd, when buying, look for firmness. Too soft means the seeds are too developed. In any case, if the seed portions are soft, even with small seeds, the seed portion should be scooped out, as with cucumbers, though the texture is more like overgrown zucchini. The outer flesh should be peeled. In these two recipes of yesterday and today, small cubes of about ½-inch square are called for.

Sorakkai Kootu or Lauki Toor Dal

(Bottle Gourd and Toor Dal Stew)

Serves 2

Lauki Toor Dal or Sorekkai Kootu

½ cup toor / arhar dal (split, peeled pigeon peas)
1½ - 2 cups water, for cooking
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder OR 1 teaspoon grated fresh turmeric root
4 cups bottle gourd, peeled, cubed
2 teaspoons Sambar Powder (here)
1 teaspoon salt
------
1 tablespoon cooking oil
½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 dry red chili, whole
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ cup chopped onion
10 - 12 curry leaves
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1 hot green chili, minced (seeds removed for less heat)
½ teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed
½ teaspoon red chili powder (ground chilis, not the mixture used for Chili con Carne)
1 medium tomato, chopped
½ cup chopped cilantro leaves

Wash the toor dal repeatedly in fresh water, until the water runs off mostly clear. Place the dal into a large saucepan and cover with the water, starting with 1½ cups, adding more if needed to keep the mixture soupy towards the end of cooking. Bring to boil, removing foam as it forms, then add in the turmeric. Cook time should be 30 to 40 minutes. Once the lentils are mostly cooked through but still a little al dente, add in the bottle gourd cubes (first photo in series below) and soak 8 to 12 minutes more, until the bottle gourd is tender (photo 2 in series below). Add in the sambar powder and salt and stir. 

While the dal and bottle gourd are cooking, heat a skillet over medium to medium high heat and add in the mustard seeds. Once the seeds begin to crackle and sputter, quickly add in the whole dry red chili and cumin seeds, toss quickly, lower heat to medium low, then add in the onion, curry leaves, garlic, ginger and green chili (photo 1 in series below), stirring and cooking until the onions are soft and beginning to turn golden. Add in the coriander seeds and red chili powder with the chopped tomato (photo 2 in series below) and cook, stirring often, until the tomato has completely broken down, about 5 minutes (photo 3 in series below). 

Once the lentils and bottle gourd are cooked through, add in this mixture (photo 4 in series above) along with the cilantro and stir well. Serve with chapatis or other Indian flat bread.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Untangling Indian Dals and Other Terminology

Anyone who has tried to understand which "dal/dahl/daal" is which, will find there is a surfeit of misinformation abounding on the web. While looking through my cookbooks, and some recipes online, I have come across differing names for some of the lentils, beans, dals and other legumes. When trying to find them to buy, there is even more confusion. There are a lot of different lentils and beans and seeds that are used in Indian cooking. I do not propose that I am a total expert, but I have spent a lot of time on this subject, researching to try and get to the root of which is which, and what names the varying lentils and beans may be called by, in order to use the proper one when using a recipe.

My Indian Cookbook by Amandip Uppal

My search came down to a crunch about a week ago, when I decided to try making "Tadka Dal," a recipe right out of the cookbook called "My Indian Cookbook," by Amandip Uppal (found on Amazon, here). I was given this book by friends, and at first I thought how very simple some of the recipes seemed. Most Indian recipes look forbidding, with the vast array of ingredients, spices and other flavoring agents. This is why I have amassed an amazing array of spices over the years, and a fair bit of knowledge in how to use them. Amandip Uppal's recipes, the ones I have tried, to date, have been really delightful. Her Naan bread is so amazingly soft, I found it hard to believe. So when I decided to try this recipe for Tadka Dal, I ran into a snag, since I was missing one of the "dals" called for. I set about remedying that situation right away, but in the meantime, I made it with just two of the three dals called for. It was delightful. But then I wished I'd had the third, missing dal, to have tried it out for flavor.

Okay, What is Dal, Daal or Dahl?

Dal is the term used to denote any split, peeled lentil, bean or other dried legume. If the particular lentil, bean or dried legume is left whole, it is not called "dal." 

Dal is also the term for a thinner, slightly soupy dish cooked from these aforementioned split, peeled, lentils, beans or other dried legume, as well as whole cooked legumes. Confusing, as I said! I created a table, which is large, but hopefully will help unravel some of the confusion. I am sorry if some of the type is rather small, but it is a large table.

Table of Lentils, Peas and Dals

Not all Chickpeas are Created Equal

Another thing came out of my search to identify some of these lentils, beans, peas and other legumes. I had not realized that when an Indian recipe called for "besan" flour (which I knew was chickpea flour), it did not mean the kind of chickpeas / garbanzo beans we in the U.S use for hummus. Instead, there is a much smaller "chickpea" called Desi Chickpea / Kala Chana / Bengal Gram / Black or Brown Chickpea. With that many names for one single kind of chickpea, it is no wonder there can be massive confusion. Once this small Desi Chickpea is peeled and split, it is called Chana Dal, Desi Channa Dal or Split Yellow Gram! Good gracious! And it is this little split and peeled Desi Chickpea that is generally used to make the "besan" flour, but until just a couple of days ago, I did not know this.

Brown Desi Chickpeas vs Garbanzo Beans for size

I came upon this little fact when I tried following a recipe for some Carrot & Chickpea Pancakes (also from "My Indian Cookbook," by Amandip Uppal) made with besan. I thought "I have dried chickpeas/garbanzos, and my grain mill will grind them into flour - no problem." So when I went to make the breads, the recipe called for something like 5 tablespoons of water. At that point, there was absolutely no way this mixture was the soupy mixture the recipe showed it to be - something like crepe batter. After adding about 7 or 8 more tablespoons of water, it finally approached the right consistency. And it was after this that I read that if using our large, regular chickpea (kabuli channa) flour, that you would need a lot more water to get the right consistency. Aha! Now that I know, I also have the split, peeled Desi chickpeas, so I can make proper "besan" flour.

Carrot & Chickpea Pancakes from "My Indian Cookbook" - also called Besan Chilla (or Besan Puda)

Terminology Difficulties

The next thing I came across that had me stumped for a bit is the term "Tadka," sometimes also called "Tarka." 

I have read a lot of recipes that have this term applied to it. And I have found recipes for various lentil, or lentil combination dishes that are all called "Tadka or Tarka Dal." Okay. So, why, if the lentils are different, and the other ingredients vary radically from one recipe to another, are they all termed Tadka Dal? 

My Dal Fry or Toor Dal with Tadka

I made that recipe from "My Indian Cookbook" (mentioned above), that Amandip Uppal called Tadka Dal, using two of the three types of lentils called for. It was wonderful. Once I ordered the remaining dal that I had not owned (Toor Dal, or split, peeled pigeon peas), I felt that I would like to make something with just these split peeled pigeon peas alone, to gauge the flavor. I found a recipe using just Toor Dal on www.vegrecipesofindia.com for something called "Dal Fry." I made it and was instantly enchanted by the flavors. I ate it for lunch, and after the veritable orgy of flavors in my mouth, I stopped to think: "Hmmm. Looking back, it seems that the ingredients for the Tarka Dal of a few days previous, and this Dal Fry were remarkably similar. What?" I got out both recipes to compare, and aside from one recipe calling for three different dals, and the other calling for only the one, the remaining ingredients were nearly identical! So, what in the world is the difference? How can they be the same?

My first thought was that "Fry" in the title "Dal Fry" is a purely English word. So, what would this recipe be called if not for the word "fry?" I went hunting online, and finally figured out the problem:

Tadka, Tarka (or Chaunk or Dhungar) means fried flavoring agents.

These various dals, whether little Masoor Dal (red lentils), Toor Dal (split peeled pigeon peas), Desi Channa Dal (split, peeled Desi chickpeas / brown Desi chickpeas) or other, when these are cooked in water, have very little flavor of their own. It is far easier to cook them without salt, so they will absorb water more quickly, leaving one with a pot of well cooked, possibly mushy lentils (often a desired state), but with little to no flavor. The Tadka comes in when adding flavors to this resultant mush to give it flavor. This "Tadka" can be as simple as a few kinds of spice such as mustard seeds, cumin seeds and maybe a Garam Masala, fried in some ghee and then added to the cooked lentils, along with salt, for flavor. It can be as complex as you wish. The recipe from vegrecipesofindia.com used quite a lot of things, first frying mustard and cumin seeds, adding onion, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, and on and on, creating quite an excellent mixture, that was then added to the cooked, mushy, bland pigeon pea mixture.

The result was nothing short of amazing, in my estimation. This recipe was so good that I said to my husband that I could eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner! My husband liked it, but said he wouldn't go quite as far as I would, such as eating it for breakfast! Yet, I have done just that, for the past two mornings. I - LOVE - this dish. And I really love the flavor of the Toor Dal. Despite all the added flavors, it was quite distinct from the Tadka Dal of those few days prior, despite having nearly the same flavoring ingredients. Before this dish, my most absolute favorite dal dish was one made with Masoor Dal, the little "red" (more like orange/salmon color) lentils. This new dish totally eclipses that first one, and that says a lot.

I changed very little in the "Dal Fry" recipe from Veg Recipes of India (click the link for that recipe). I had read elsewhere that more often amchur powder is used in place of the lemon juice called for in the recipe. Amchur is dried green mango powder, used often as a souring agent, sometimes alongside tamarind, another souring agent. I used amchur rather than lemon juice and slightly less chili powder, because if my husband was going to taste it, he cannot abide anything so hotly spiced. 

Another Misleading Bit of Information

When looking for Toor Dal, and sometimes Chana Dal, many people said they were the same as yellow split peas. NOT.

Yellow Split Peas, left - Split Desi Chickpeas (Chana Dal), middle - Split Pigeon Peas (Toor Dal), right

Yellow split peas (split peas would be termed "matar dal") take far longer to cook at upwards of 2 hours (with no advance soaking) and are a fair bit larger than Chana Dal (split brown chickpeas / Desi chickpeas) or Toor Dal (split pigeon peas), both of which can take about a half hour of cooking, with no pre-soaking.

A note on many recipes calling for lentils: In my experience to date, while most Indian recipes call for the use of a pressure cooker (which I do not own), I truly cannot quite grasp why a pressure cooker is necessary. It barely takes a half hour, even without pre-soaking any of these split lentils/peas/beans to cook through. Many of the small ones, like the little red lentils (masoor dal) take about 15 to 20 minutes. What I do is set the lentil to cook in plain water first. Get it to a boil, reduce heat, then cover and let cook - and then I proceed with any measuring, chopping and frying called for in the recipe. Once that is taken care of, the lentils are generally cooked through. It's all about timing and organization. 

I truly hope that this blog may help some who are new to these terms and the many and varied legumes. I have been experimenting with Indian cooking for nearly 20 years and have myriad Indian cookbooks and such an abundance of spices unique to Indian cooking that they warrant a whole, dedicated drawer of their own. I love the foods, the spices and flavors that come of combining so many and varied ingredients. India is a whole world unto its own and has such varied cultures just among their own states. I am endlessly fascinated with their culture and their foods. I taste something new, such as the Toor Dal with Tadka, and I feel like I just ate the best comfort food, ever. Despite a Slovak background, when I eat Indian foods I feel like I've come home.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.