Oct 7, 2006

Konkani Dal (daLitoy)

Konkani Dal

Dalitoy is a konkani daal. No konkani meal is complete without Dalitoy. Its been hailed as the Kuladeva of The Konkanis. The best Dalitoy comes from the Gowda Saraswat Brahmin or the konkani temples surrounding Mangalore. The meals are fed on the banana leaves and the devotees savour on just the Dalitoy.

1 cup Tuvar Dal
4 green chilies
4 red chilies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
chick pea sized hing
salt to taste

Boil Tuvar Dal in a pressure cooker. Do not worry if the dal gets mashed totally. Transfer the cooked dal to a sauce pan and Bring it to a boil. Add slit green chilies and salt. Keep it on low flame, Let it boil till the hotness of the chilies is tasted in the dal. Taste the dal and adjust salt. For the seasoning, heat 1 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds. When the splutter, Switch of the flame, immediately add broken red chilies and curry leaves. Let the curry leaves impart the flavor in the oil. Take care not to burn the red chilies. Add it to the boiling dal. You can pour a spoonful of dal to the pan that contained the seasoning and add it again to the saucepan, thereby cleaning the seasoning pan. This makes a huge sizzle, so be careful . Dissolve hing in a tsp of water and add it to the dal.

Do not add hing to the seasoning. Do not add cilantro/coriander leaves either. The traditional konkani Dal, daLitoy does not have cilantro or turmeric in it.

Dalitoy can be thick or thin. Each of it has a huge fan base and konkani people often enjoy debating how the dalitoy should be made. The consistency of the dal is purely your choice. Thick Dalitoy is called daaT daaLitoy in konkani which abbreviated as D.D.T for fun.

7 comments:

marriedtoadesi.com said...

I love this daal. I did not know it was hailed so much amongst Konkans. I had cooked toor daal in the freezer and wanted to make a nice daal for basmati chaval, and searched up on the internet and found this! Perfect. I am in love with it too!

Anonymous said...

Hi. As a non-Indian, I love Dal and would love to make this recipe. Do you have any suggestions as to how much water I should use to pressure cook the dal with if I were to prefer a slightly thicker dal, as you mentioned? Thanks, Bill H.

Manjula said...

Bill H,
Just add enough water till the dal is covered with water. Pressure cook for 5 whistles if you have a pressure cooker with the weight. I do not know how long it might take in the modern pressure cookers without weight and whistle. Just cook till the dal is soft, its ok to get mushy, better overcook than undercook. The dal has to dissolve completely or almost in its own broth when you boil it. Add water and bring to the thickness as desired
Let me know if you have more questions & also how it worked for you.

Marriedtoadesi,
Hope you enjoyed Dalitoy, the konkani style.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the recipe. My husband who usually does not like dal, loved it. :)

Tthe other guy said...

thanks a lot M for the recipie..after 3 yrs of staying abroad and cooking myself, i cooked daalitoy for the first time(quite shameful for a konkani).. had one of my biggest lunch :)

Tthe other guy said...

thanks a lot M for the recipie..after 3 yrs of staying abroad and cooking myself, i cooked daalitoy for the first time(quite shameful for a konkani).. had one of my biggest lunch :)

Vitalstatistix said...

A Chitrapur Saraswat would use a pinch of turmeric in the dal too... while it is being pressure cooked. Also would add a slice of ginger (in addition to the green chillies)
Makes the the dal healthier, yummier