Gujarati daar is spicy, sweet and sour. The recipe I'm sharing is one my mum learnt from her mum back in India. It's different to other Gujarati daars I have seen. Gujarati daar is also on the watery side however my parents prefer it on the thicker side so that's what I will be sharing here.
Ingredients: 1 cup toor daal 1 heaped tablespoon red peanuts
1 small tomato sliced
2 and 1/2 cup water
1 tsp green masala
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander cumin powder
salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish
Tempering:
2 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp asafoetida
Curry leaves
Jaggery to taste
Lemon juice to taste
Method
Wash your toor daal a few times until the water is not cloudy. The toor daal I used was coated in castor oil, if yours is the same make sure the castor oil is washed off.
Add the washed toor daal into a pressure cooker along with 2 and 1/2 cups of water, red peanuts and a sliced tomato.
Pressure cook on medium to high heat for 4 whistles then allow the pressure to release naturally. Then into the pressure cooked daal add the green masala, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander cumin powder and salt. Mix well and add a little extra water, around 1/4 cup.
Using a whisk churn the mixture. The daal and tomato should disintegate and the mixture should become smooth. The peanuts will stay whole. In another pan heat some oil and add in some mustard seeds once hot.
Once the mustard seeds have stopped spluttering add in cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds. Once they have gone brown add in the dry red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves. Mix then pour in the pressure cooked daal mixture.
Heat the daal and add in jaggery for sweetness and lemon juice for sourness. The amount depends on your taste preference. Add more water if you want a more runny daal, I added a further 2 cups of water. Bring this to a boil and simmer for around 5 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves.
Gujarati daar can be served alongside your main meal in a bowl and can be eaten with a spoon. My favourite is having this mixed into ghee rice and poppadoms on the side.
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