Khatti Dal (Sour Lentil Curry)

Khatti dal (sour lentil curry), is the typical Hyderabadi preparation soured with tamarind. There are many ways to prepare it.

I have given you here the recipe, which I follow to prepare Khatti dal.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Toor or Arhar Dal (Pigeon pea)
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves to garnish
• 1 tsp lemon juice

For Fried Dal Masala:

• 3 tbsp melted ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad dal (split skinned black lentil)
• 1 small tomato diced
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 10 curry leaves
• 3-4 slit green chilies
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 2 tbsp tamarind extract (modify according to taste)
• Salt to taste

For seasoning to garnish:

• 1 tbsp ghee
• ½ tsp asafetida powder
• A pinch of red chili powder

Method:

• Thoroughly wash the Toor dal or Arhar dal and put into a pressure cooker. Add 3 cups of water to it. Add chopped garlic, 1 tbsp of cooking oil and turmeric powder to it. Stir well.
• Cover the pressure cooker and set on high flame. After the first pressure release, reduce the flame to simmer and cook for one more pressure release. Turn off the flame and open the pressure cooker when it is cool.
• Stir the boiled lentils well to blend into a smooth consistency. If it is too thick, add some warm water and stir until the consistency is right.
• In a small pan heat 3 tbsp ghee; add bay leaf, urad dal and mustard seeds; fry till spluttering stops. Add the curry leaves, green chilies and chopped onion; fry until onion turns golden.
• Now add chopped tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, tamarind extract and salt. Fry it till ghee starts to separate from masala.
• Mix this masala to cooked toor dal and stir well.
• Add lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves to it.
• Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and seasoning.
• Prepare seasoning to garnish dal: Heat one tbsp ghee on a medium flame, in a small pan till hot. Now turn off the fire and add the asafetida powder and a pinch of red chili powder. Pour immediately over dal mix.
• Serve with plain boiled rice.

Do You Know?

The pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan, syn. Cajanus indicus) is a perennial member of the family Fabaceae. Other common names are arhar (Hindi/Bengali), red gram, toovar/toor (Gujarati/Marathi/Punjabi), toovaram paruppu ( Tamil),togari (Kannada), Kandi (Telugu), gandul, guandul, Congo pea, Gungo pea, Gunga pea, and no-eye pea.

The cultivation of the pigeon pea goes back at least 3000 years. The centre of origin is most likely Asia, from where it travelled to East Africa and by means of the slave trade to the American continent. Today pigeon peas are widely cultivated in all tropical and semi-tropical regions of both the Old and the New World.