Dalma

Ingredients: 100gm pigeon pea /arhar dal (harada dali) 50gm raw papaya (kancha amrutabhanda) 50gm striped pear gourd / parwal (potala) 50gm potato (alu) 1 big onion (piaja) 3-5 dry chili (sukhila lanka) teaspoon mustard (sorisha) 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) 2 bay leaves (teja patra) teaspoon turmeric powder (haladi gunda) 3-teaspoon of any refined cooking oil (refain tela) teaspoon cumin seeds powder (jeera gunda) tea spoon chili powder (lanka gunda) salt to taste (luna)

Method:
Wash the vegetables thoroughly. Cut them into small pieces. Put the vegetables, arhar dal, salt, teaspoon turmeric powder and 3 to 4 cups of water in a Pressure Cooker and boil on medium flame. After one whistle switch off the gas. A little later as the pressure of the cooker is released, open the lid. Now heat 3 teaspoon of oil in a frying pan. Add jeera, mustard, bay leaves, chopped onions and 3-4 dry chilies. Fry till they turn golden brown. Now add all this to the boiled dal and vegetables of the pressure cooker and stir well. Add jeera powder and chili powder. Close the lid and heat further for 2 minutes. Your dalma is ready. Tastes best when served hot. May be served with rice or chapati also.

Variations:
What's mentioned above is a simple recipe of Dalma. You may further make variations of the same by adding / replacing the vegetables with pumpkin, brinjal, plantain, and yam etc. A little scrubbed coconut may also be added. Using desi ghee (gua gheea) instead of refined oil lends subtle flavour to dalma. If you feel that the arhar dal is not getting boiled properly it may be soaked in water for about 30 minutes before putting the same in pressure cooker. Also find another variety of dalma elsewhere on this page, where moong dal is used instead of arhar dal.

Muga Dalma
Ingredients:
1/2 cup moong dal (muga dali) 1 tablespoon cumin seeds (jeera) 1 inch ginger - crushed (ada) 1 tablespoon ghee (desi gheea) 2 tea spoon cumin powder (jeera gunda) chili power to taste (lanka gunda) 2 red chillies (sukhila lanka) salt to taste 1 & 1/2 cups of cut vegetables such as: pumpkin (kakharu) yam (desi alu) papaya (kancha amrutabhanda) plantain (kancha kadali) arum (saru) radish (moola)

Method:
First of all dry- fry the moong dal in a kadai/ pan for about 2 minutes, not more. Soak the semi fried moong dal in water and keep it aside. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds and red chillies and let it splutter. Then add the crushed ginger and vegetables. Stir and fry it for a minute. Add the soaked moong dal, salt, cumin powder and chilli powder. Also add water as required. Now close the pressure cooker and let it cook for about 15 minutes. The muga dalma is ready. Serve this with steaming hot rice. This kind of dalma is also known as Habishya Dalma and is used by women performing 'Habisha Brata' in Orissa during the holy month of Kartik. (Use of vegetables like potato, tomato and brinjal is to be avoided if this dish is being prepared exclusvely for the purpose of habisha.)