I’m sitting here eating leftover Dhansak which is a Parsi dish of many kinds of dal all mashed with vegetables like bottle gourd and eggplant. The flavor is even better today than it was when we first had it a couple of nights ago!

Dhansak is one of the dishes my mother in law makes when we visit India. Served with a rice slightly sweetened with jaggery and spiced with star anise, cloves and cinnamon, and cuchumber, an onion, tomato and cilantro salad (sounds like cucumber to me, but there is no cucumber in it :-)), it is delicious! She showed me how to make it on my first trip there years ago, but then I finally got dhansak masala on our last trip back in November. I can’t believe it took me 6 months more to finally try it out! I didn’t write down any measurements or specific instructions, but Tejas said it tasted good!

This recipe uses a ready made masala from Bombay, but there is a recipe for one on Cheeky Chilli.

The Dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup channa dal
1/4 cup moong dal (green)
1/4 cup moong dal (yellow)
1/4 cup urad dal
1/2 small bottle gourd peeled and chopped
2 small eggplants chopped
5 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3 tablespoons dhanshak masala
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon methi leaves (I used dried methi called kasori methi because they didn’t have fresh at the Indian market)

1. Pressure cook the dals, bottle gourd, and eggplants with 5 cups of water for about 12 minutes after the first whistle.
2. Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a saute pan and add the cumin. Once they brown, add the onion and saute until translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes and cook until soft.
4. Add the turmeric, chili powder, dhansak masala, and tamarind and stir.
5. Once the dal is cooked, mash (I used a potato masher) and then add the 0nion tomato mixture, methi leaves and salt. Stir and let cook for 10-15 minutes to let the flavor meld.

The Rice
1 tablespoon ghee
2 star anise
3 cloves
1 small piece cinnamon bark
1 tablespoon jaggery (I use a knife to chop a small block of jaggery)
1 cup basmati rice
~2 + 2 tablespoons water
Salt

1. Heat the ghee in medium sauce pan and add the star anise, cloves and cinnamon.
2. After a couple of minutes add the jaggery and melt until syrupy.
3. Add the rice, water and a little salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Cuchumber (onion & tomato sala)
1 onion chopped
1 tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Pinch sugar
Pinch salt
Squeeze lime

• Mix all ingredients together and serve with dhansak and rice.