Bachelor tadka

Ever been a guest to a dwelling inhabitated by a group of bachelors....and I mean bachelors exclusive.

Yeah, I have been there, not once but ample of times.

Once you enter the house, you are welcomed by a queue of shoes, badly in need of being used. All of them stuffed with smelly soiled socks. The stink is enough to discourage even a mighty heart. If you are able to survive the smell and still have the will enough to march ahead, you meet huge mountains and mountains of clothes waiting their turn for ablution. You certainly would prefer to ignore them, but you can't as they are lying all over the place. You are too afraid of the sideeffects that may occur if you should/could touch them. So you prefer to stand and wait for your shorts clad hosts to take it as a signal and make some space for you to sit. But to no avail.

A dusty pile of old newspaper in one corner, neighboured by a books and magazines. The kind and genre of books and newspaper depends upon the guys who read them. The daily range from Economic times to the local hindi newspaper. If there is an Economic times in the house, then it has to be paired with thick piles of business magzines and India today. The likes of Playboy though present in the vicinity are not visible. Bachelors are gentlemen otherwise, believe me.

An ideal and the easiest way to fill their always empty stomach other than eating out, is cooking Dal-chawal. Everytime I managed to make it to the dinning table (if there is any), always was greeted with a simmering pot of yellow dal and hills of rice. These people do appreciate the Cajun way of cooking....:)

When Linda announced her JFI ingredient, I was pretty sure about my entry.....:D

The dudes in my life, on numerous occasions have treated me with their Masala Dal Tadka. They have oblidged me with allowing me to prepare their signature dish, otherwise exclusive only for the single maritians.

What we need:

1 cup Toor Dal

1 big onion, chopped

1 tomato chopped

3-4 red chillies

1 tbs turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin seeds, mustard seeds

1 big spoon of desi ghee

1 tbs of Kitchen king masala

5-6 sprigs of coriander, chopped.

What needs to be done:

1. Heat a Pressure cooker pan. Put a generous dab of desi ghee in it. Melt the ghee.

2. Add a tbs of mustard seeds, let them splutter.

3. Drop in 2-3 red chillies. Add a big pinch of cumin seeds.

4. Add a big onion, cook for a while

5. Add the spices and masala powders.

5. Then the tomatoes go into the pan.

6. Pour in the washed toor dal. Add water, 4-5 times in quantity of daal.

7. Pressure cook the dal.

8. Let off the steam and cool the cooker.

9. Add the chopped coriander

Serve over a mountain of rice with mango pickle by the side.

With this I am going over to the very desi Linda's for JFI-ToorDal.