this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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I made the dal makhani after 7 hours of soaking and an hour of boiling the pulses. Alas, it didn't really turn out like I expected - granted, it's not a dish I grew up with or ate enough of to be really familiar with. Neither do i have much experience with these ingredients. Bought the wrong kind of urad dal (no skin) and followed recipes with too high a ratio of urad dal:kidney beans to my tastes. The end result was a bit too mushy and bland for my liking although it was no fault of the cashew cream, which I can report to @dumblederp worked well despite all the other problems. It reduced the slimy texture of urad dal and gave it a lovely creamy mouthfeel.
Ended up adding way more spices and eating it with copious amounts of lime pickle. Would try cashew cream again but need to change a few things if I try this dish again.
Not particularly inspiring pics:
Kidney beans I can use in other dishes, but man I have a lot of urad dal to go through.
Iโm not too familiar with what sort of grains are needed for what but I heard some kind of dal is used for dosa and idlis? Some recipes use urad dal and they seem to use dehusked.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2FhCWIBlOWc&pp=ygUJI3VyaWRkaGFs
Great to hear about the cashew cream. Most of my "dal" is based of 1kg dry pulces and 150g spice mix. Sometimes add veggies, sometimes add chicken/stock.
A diced apple or pear and some microwave'd pappadums can zhoozjh it up a bit.
Also, the Instant Pot absolutely smashes out the dry pulces for no fuss cooking.
Hard no on the fruit but the pappadums definitely help. Had a more flavourful side of zucchini dry curry that lifted things up.
I really wanted to get an instant pot but there's no space in this tiny unit - I barely have space for a microwave; I have to keep putting my rice cooker away and I've never even used my toaster since moving here.
When I move to my next long term place I'll definitely be getting one given how many pulses I eat.
But yeah. Cashew cream for the win. It's really easy to make too, just hot water, cashews, 15 mins soaking time and a blender.
Nothing still beats my favourite masoor dal though :) the easiest and tastiest, my comfort food
If the rice cooker dies, replace it with an instant pot. IP does great rice.
I should really read some dal recipies and make something specific rather than the flavoured pulces that I'm living off.
I discovered with microwave pappadums is that if you give them a light painting with oil then they come out a lot better. It's like they've been deep fried. I use the small ones because they're quicker.
My cousin uses a quick spray of oil before microwaving them and they definitely come out primo.
that looks delicious ๐
Freeze?
Have already packed away half of today's big cook up in the freezer. I don't have much space though... and I'll need to eat this stuff up eventually. I aim to be out of this place by the end of July. So over all the road noise and dust and not having my outdoor plants...