Kamaal ki Daal

Obama mentioned in one of his interviews that he can cook desi food such as Daal and Keema. Now, if he had Pakistani roommates, he probably knows how to make daal and keema and thats quite incredible. When it comes to desi food Daal esp. is one of my favorite dishes. (For those uninitiated, daal is basically a lentil based prepartion.) Now growing up in a vegeterian maharashtrian family, daal was quite a regular preparation at my home. It was one of the 4 major preparations at the dinner table along with rice (bhat), poli/chapati (bread) and a vegetable preparation (either fried or in a curry form).

I can think of atleast 6-7 different recipes of daal or versions of daal. A very common version in maharashtrian food is called sadha varan (simple daal) in marathi. As per its name it really is the simplest version of daal. It basically is toor dal (pigeon peas) cooked in a pressure cooker with salt, turmeric and hinga (asafoetida) added per taste. This is followed by mixing/homogenizing (using a wooden stirrer called ravi) while adding water as per required consistency. I am a huge fan of this version of daal. Sadha varan-bhat and sajuk tup (ghee) ranks right up there as a quintessential part of maharashtrian cuisine. If you have sweet lime pickle on the side it adds an all together different dimension to the taste. The sweet yet spicy taste of the lime pickle keeps your taste buds tickled while eating the divine sadha varan tup bhat!

Another and probably the most popular preparation of daal is daal fry. The beauty of daal fry is that it can be prepared in various ways and yet taste great. It can be prepared with either of the various daal types (toor, mung, masoor) with or without various ingredients such cut onion, green chillies or red chillies, garlic petals, cut tomato etc. Though daal fry can be eaten with roti/chapati/naan, I think the best way is to eat with jeera fried rice! Scoop up some steaming jeera fried rice in a spoon with some daal fry along with it and get ready to go on a taste odyssey! One of the best daal fry, I have had is at a local Pakistani restaurant in St.louis. He uses red masoor daal and the most unique thing is this daal is the addition of cut pieces of pickled raw mango! Sluurrrrrppppppp!! Another peculiar way of eating daal is just by itself. After the dinner is done and the serving bowl has some leftover daal fry at the bottom. Do you keep it in the refrigerator?? Naah....get a spoon and slurrrrppp it off!! (Anybody for daal fry at a road side highway dhaba?)

Another personal favorite daal preparation is Aamti (marathi manus jaaga ho!). Its a daal preparation with tamarind sauce, jaggery, garlic and red chilli powder. Again eat it with roti, rice or down it like soup!

And now probably the most widespread preparation of daal--Sambar! I estimate that the daily consumption of Sambar all around the world will probably top the volume of water in Mediterranean Sea (aight before you yell out---yes this is based on heavy exaggeration and rough approximation..haha). Sambar again has 50 different recipes. Its probably the biggest contribution of south indians (what say Sudi?)....jk :). Sambar and Butter chicken will probably run a close contest for being the most popular indian entrees outside India! You can have Sambar with Steamed Idli, Dosa, Uttappa, Wada..anything! When a Punekar talks about Sambar---he cannot resist the temptation of mentioning Vaishali (a popular restaurant in Pune) Sambar. I think that is the best sambar I have ever had in my life. Well, I havent really tried Sambar in Chennai or Hyderabad so my experience could be limited to Maharashtra and Bangalore.

Anyway, time to get some kamaal ki daal from the Paki restaurant...along with some spicy goat curry and send the taste buds to the seventh heaven!! :)

Nostalgia

After a well spent weekend (riding motorcycle), at our regular weekend coffee place, I was having conversations about past trips (esp. india trips), some hilarious incidents, some close shaves in airline travels (almost missing flights, overweight baggage, security lines) etc etc. All of a sudden a spike of excitement hit me as I started talking about all the things associated with planning an India trip. Basically, I love nostalgia, in the sense that I enjoy talking about fun memories and so on so forth. However, when it comes to nostalgia associated with India, I just get over enthused...every time!!

Anyway, Sunday nights' almost here. Time to wrap up for a 4 day week...oh wait...I am planning to work on friday.....I think!

Yippieee!! Lakers are NBA 2009 champions!! Kobe Bryant gets his 4th NBA ring!! Phil Jackson gets his 10th!! Great display! Kobe finally wins one without Shaq and in doing that he proved that he is better than Lebron-atleast as of today!!

2009 playoffs had some great playoff matchups. Bulls and Celtics; Magic and Celtics; Lakers and Rockets; Lakers and Nuggets and obviously Cavaliers and Magic. Great basketball, great competition!! Its all over now though. Time for some baseball fun!!


P.S. I will never forgive myself for not writing about Federer's french open victory! Although, he didnt get to beat Nadal on the way to glory, he cleared every doubt in anybody's mind about why he is the greatest tennis player ever. Reaching 20 semifinals of last 20 grandslams!!! Challenge that consistency....anybody??

Am I feeling a little rejuvenated?? Is there a new spring in my stride these days?? If yes, then I need to evaluate what caused this?? I cant tell yet!!


Time for vacation??................Again???


Aight, hold the fort for a few more months!! Fingers crossed!!....Dont want to count my chicken yet!!


Feels incoherent? Doesnt make much sense? I cant explain!