Curly Kale Lao Diye Dal- Dal Cooked with Curly Kale and Bottle Gourd

Sometimes I wonder there are so many recipes hanging out till eternity in this wide world web that if you start counting, it can may easily exceed the count for all the stars and satellites in this Milky Way. And probably in coming years many new recipes will be added and will continue to do so. 

And this dal recipe with curly kale and bottle gourd is just another addition to it.

Imagine yourself in a 3 dimensional zone and recipes floating out all around you, and you picking up a recipe when flashed in front of your eyes.Ok I know that seems gross and a scene straight lifted from a sci-fi movie, well my intention is not something to make you shiver with horror, but to make you realize that these are texts and pictures only and they are hanging till eternity in this place we call “WWW”.So, slow down friends when it requires and take it easy on blogging.

There are many recipes out here on internet, some talks about exotic ingredients, and then their breath-taking pictures, food styling, presentation, props and what not.So everything neatly presented, pictures composed, even photo shopped, and well balanced taken into many technical aspects - white balance, shutter speed, aperture etc , and in between all this the poor food, which becomes cold and the lovely family waiting patiently.

Can’t we blog about simple home-food without getting deep into the technical aspect of a gadget .The kind of real food and home-made ,which we eat regularly, showing our messy kitchen counter-top, kitchen cupboard, messy or grubby stove-top or is this too boring for most of you. I don’t know when the day will come when we will jump to see a picture of dal and roti instead of three-layered chocolate cake or tiramisu or calzone or creme Brule or whatever.

And even we as food bloggers ,don’t want to look back some recipe again and make them again, that’s true in any case but we are sorry I keep on doing it. Once written, seen and read then the chapter is closed.You know kind of recipes which you can tick in the box as show-stopper recipe, or a show-casing recipe, all eyes glued on to it.

And then there are recipes, that requires no rocket science or algorithm, even you don’t have to remind yourself  of any trigonometric functions, or the aperture speed, focal length, white balance, day light or night light, evening time ,morning time etc and still you can do it fine with a picture clicked just on an auto mode.

And this dal recipe is one among those home-made simple foods, and you know the end product will be edible and comforting. It’s just like you can cook it the way you make your morning tea in a microwave and/ or driving a car in an auto mode cruising along a highway.

Give me any day a bowl of hot, piping dal and warm cooked rice, and I will be the happiest person.

Curly Kale Lao’er dal –Dal Cooked with Curly Kale and Bottle gourd

Recipe requirements (measurements are approx)

•  1-2 cups of moong dal
• 2 cups of Bottle gourd /lauki/Lao/ghia chopped in cubes
• 1 bunch Curly kale, leaves and tender stalks chopped
• Seasonings and tempering
• ½ tsp of red pepper powder
• ¾ tsp of turmeric powder
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamoms
• ½ inch cinnamon
• 2-3 dry red pepper
• 2-3 tej patta or bay leaves
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• Few methi or fenugreek seeds
• Pinch of hing/asafetida

Method

• Wash the lentils very well. Put the pressure cooker on at medium flame/gas mark-5 or 6.
• Add in lentils and enough water to cover up lentils very well. Discard white foam forming afterwards.
• Now add in chopped bottle gourd/lauki /Lao cubes. Add in chopped curly kale also. Alternately you can blanch the green leaves and add later on while tempering the dal. Note- While I would recommend pressure cooking the curly kale leaves with lentils as this way it will retain the nutritional water coming out from the leaves. Otherwise both ways Curly Kale needs proper cooking as compared to spinach leaves which cooks very fast.
• Now add in salt and turmeric powder.
• Pressure cooks it for one whistle. Open it few mints later; don’t wait for the pressure to subside, as it may turn lentils and lauki/lao to be over-cooked and a mush. Run some cold water over pressure cooker to open it quickly.
• Add in 2 cups of water now and some chopped tomatoes. Adjust with sugar now.
• Now for the tempering/tarka/phoron
• Heat up a small saucepan, add mustard oil, and add in hing, cumin and fenugreek/methi seeds.
• Add in dry red pepper and tej patta.Add in cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.Stir/fry them 1-2 mints.
• Now add in chopped tomatoes. Fry them well till tomatoes become a pulp sort.Add in red pepper powder.
• Now add in this tempering/tarka/phoron into the cooked dal. Let it cook at medium flame for 5-7 mints.
• Take it off when all have mixed well.
• Serve with warm cooked rice of roti.-Note- increase the water content if you wish to make soupy preparation of this dal.

And Happy Cooking Friends