The Dalma-niac Soup !! ( Traditional Dalma gets a mad makeover )

There are certain days when the 'makeover' madness takes hold of me and just refuses to let go. I try giving a makeover to everything, either living or non-living, that comes within a few feet radius of me. Not everything that is affected by my Midas touch turns out to be gold and I often end up deleting/discarding/reverting my genius stroke. And in the unfortunate event of there being a certain kind of permanency to my spur-of-the-moment actions, I learn to live with the taunts that come my ways for a not so inconsiderable period.

However, this is one of my more successful experiments which helped me banish ( or to be more honest, just reduce ) rice from my diet to a certain extent. For the uninitiated, Dalma is lentils cooked with a medley of veggies, and tempered with red chilis, ghee, cumin and coconut. I have turned this into a full bodied soup that is guaranteed to banish all hunger pangs.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup split yellow moong dal
• 1 tsp arwa/jeera/gobindoghog/basmati rice
• 2 cups mixed veggies ( raw papaya, pumpkin, potato, carrot, tomato/green mango )
• 1/2 tsp roasted cumin-chili powder
• 2-3 tsp coconut milk / freshly grated coconut for the garnish
• 1/2 tsp ghee
• salt to taste
• 1/5 tsp turmeric
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 inch cinnamon
• 2 dry red chili

Preparation - Dry roast lentil and rice till they turn fragrant.

Cooking - Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the broken red chili and spices.

Wash the rice and lentils . Transfer to the same pressure cooker with 2 1/2 cup water. Add the washed veggies, salt and turmeric. Close lid and cook for 2-3 whistles.

Keep aside till steam escapes. Open lid and puree the contents with the help of a hand blender.

Put it back on the flame and add the coconut milk. Let it simmer for 3 mins.

Remove from flame and pour into soup bowls. Garnish with the roasted cumin-chili  powder.

Serve immediately.

Note - Dalma, ghee and arwa chawal is like one sacrosanct trinity and hence I have included all the there elements in the soup. However the other two, i.e., the coconut (sweetness) and cumin-chili powder (pungency) can be omitted (though not recommended) or adjusted as per one's preference.

Chingudi Dalma ( Our very own Prawn Dhansak )

As Dalma is usually synonymous to fasting days in the Odia culture, it came as a bit of shocker when I first heard about the non-veg versions from my husband's cousins. I am not sure how such recipes came about but I have a niggling doubt that maybe some enterprising Odia chef/restaurant was inspired by the iconic  Parsi delight 'Dhansak'. But I maybe wrong. Being from the western region of Odisha, Dalma was not something that we regularly encountered during the growing up years. It was labelled as 'Kataki' ( meaning that it was favored by people from Cuttack ) dish.

However after marriage it became an integral part of my menu and i cook it alteast 2-3 times a week as it is very light and nutritious ( i avoid any kind of garam masala and ghee unless it is a special occasion ). Also, if one has chopped veggies stored in the fridge, it hardly takes 15 mins to get this dish onto the table. But coming to today's recipe, the 'Chingudi/Prawn Dalma' has got elements of the both a Odia prawn curry and a vegetable dalma. Like mine to have the texture of a thick lentil soup with melt in the mouth vegetables and chewy prawns. ( But going by the list of ingredients, I guess it is the closet thing next to a 'Prawn Dhansak'). Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 25-30 mins


Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup toor dal
• 1/2 cup diced pumpkin
• 1/2 cup green banana
• 1 small potato (cubed)
• 5-6 big cauliflower florets
• 1/4 cup green peas
• 2 small tomatoes (each cut into 4 pieces)
• 1/2 cup small shrimps
• 1 small onion
• 7-8 garlic flakes
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 red chili
• 2 green cardamom
• 1 1/2 inch cinnamon
• 2 small bay leaf
• 2 pinch cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 4 tsp rice bran oil
• coriander leaves for garnishing
• 2 pinch roasted cumin-chili powder (optional)

Preparation - Wash and marinate the prawns with a bit of salt and turmeric. (If they are small, leave the shells as it is else remove the shells)

Grind the onion, ginger, garlic. bay leaf, red chili, cinnamon and cardamom into coarse paste and keep aside.

Cooking - Wash and transfer the vegetables ( except for 1 tomato ) and the dal into a pressure cooker. Add salt and turmeric.Close lid and cook for 1-2 whistles. Keep aside till steam escapes.

Add 2-3 tsp oil to a wok. Thrown in the prawns and fry them on medium flame for 5 mins or till done. (Frying time depends on size)

Add the remaining oil to the same wok. Thrown in the bay leaf and cumin seeds. After the spluttering slows down, add the onion masala paste and fry till raw smell goes off.

Add the remaining tomato and cook till it softens. Now add the fried prawns and cook for 1-2 mins.

Pour the cooked dal and veggies into the wok. Bring to boil and simmer for 7-8 mins.

Sprinkle coriander leaves and roasted cumin-chili powder just before removing from the flame.

Serve hot with white rice or rotis.

Note - For a thicker and richer gravy , increase the amount of onion-garlic-ginger masala by 1.5 times, boil for 5-7 mins extra and add a little cinnamon powder just before removing from flame.

Habisa Dalma ( Kartika Masa Special Dalma )

Kartika Masa is perhaps the holiest month in the Hindu Calendar. Fasting on the Mondays of this month has a special significance as mentioned in the Puranas. Most people in Orissa give up non vegetarian items (and also onions and garlic in some cases) for the entire month. If not for the entire month, atleast the last five days or 'Panchuka' as it is called in oriya is strictly abided by many.

Womenfolk usually keep a fast and eat once a day on the Mondays of Kartika masa. Their meals consist of arwa anna, habisa dalma and aau khatta. This is a special kind of Dalma that is prepared without turmeric and the moong dal that is to be used is not roasted as usual. Only a few vegetables are sanctioned for this recipe. As 'Habisa' was primarily observed by widows in the earlier times, certain restrictions are imposed on the diet. But now a days quite a few married women observe the fasts and even a few rare men have started following these customs.

This changing profile of the devotees following Habisa has brought about a lot of change in the way this dalma is now prepared. Now people have also started adding turmeric and various vegetables. In fact some married women have this superstitious belief that turmeric should be added for making the dalma auspicious. Defying the very reason why widows are forced to skip adding turmeric. Personally, I don't buy any of this logic. Moreover I can't even use vegetables like Taro and yam as I have developed an allergy to these .

So, I will be sticking to the recipe that my MIL follows ( BTW i have added a pinch of turmeric as my son is a little picky ). Read on:

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 1/2 cups split moong dal
• 1/2 cup saru/arbi/colocassia
• 1/2 cup kancha kadali/raw banana
• 1/2 cup mati alu/yam
• 1/2 cup amrutabhanda/raw papaya ( Not used in authentic one )
• 1/2 cup mula/radish (optional) ( Not used in authentic one )
• 1 cup kakharu/pumpkin ( Not used in authentic one )
• 1-2 pieces of aau (slightly crushed)
• 2-3 whole red chillis ( Not used in authentic one )
• 1 tsp cumin seeds ( Not used in authentic one )
• 1 tsp jeera-lanka gunda ( roasted and powdered cumin seeds and dry red chilli )
• 1 bay leaf
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp crushed ginger
• grated coconut for garnishing

Cooking - Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Add broken red chillis, cumin seeds and bay leaf. Fry for 20 seconds. (Skip the above step if you want to keep it really authentic. But it tastes much better this way. The logic behind this step is that Habisa dalma shud not be tempered hence some people add these tempering ingredients while cooking itself. Crazy logic rite ? But when has religion n logic ever gone together !)

Wash and transfer the dal along with 4 cups of water to the pressure cooker. Wash and add all the vegetables to it. Add the bay leaf too if you are skipping the tempering. Close lid and cook for 1-2 whistles.

Remove from flame and allow steam to escape before opening the lid. Add the crushed ginger, jeera-lanka gunda and grated coconut.

Serve with arwa anna (raw rice) and Oou Khatta / sagaa bhajja.

This is offered as prasad to Dhabaleshwara ( Lord Shiva ) by the devotees before consumption.

This above pic is a earlier one . I have used quite a few vegetables in this one and have also used a bit of tempering !!