Dhansak

Meat cooked into a sweet and sour lentil sauce, with caramelised rice beside it.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 900 g mutton on the bone, in pieces
• 250 g toor dal
• 100 g masoor dal
• 1 aubergine, in chunks
• 200 g pumpkin, in chunks
• 2 potatoes, in chunks
• 100 g spinach
• 3 onions, sliced
• 3 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
• 3 tablespoons tamarind paste
• 2 tablespoons jaggery, grated
• 2 tablespoons dhansak masala
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 400 g basmati rice
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar, for the rice
• a 5 cm stick of cinnamon

Method

1. MEAT COOKED INTO A SWEET AND SOUR LENTIL SAUCE, WITH CARAMELISED RICE BESIDE IT. Its article gives both the dish and the plate: dhansak IS MADE BY COOKING CHICKEN OR MUTTON WITH A MIXTURE OF LENTILS AND VEGETABLES, THIS IS SERVED WITH CARAMELISED RICE AND FRIED ONIONS, and the Gujarati name means A DISH OF EITHER MEAT OR VEGETABLES IN A SWEET AND SOUR LENTIL SAUCE. Sweet and sour is not a garnish here; it is the sauce.
2. AND THE NAME IS THE TWO HALVES OF IT. The article derives dhansak from the Sanskrit DHANYA, 'GRAIN', and SAKA, 'VEGETABLES' -- the grain being the dal and the rice, the vegetables being the four below.
3. COOK THE DALS AND THE VEGETABLES TOGETHER AND PUREE THEM. Toor and masoor with the aubergine, pumpkin, potato and spinach, boiled until everything collapses, then blended smooth. This puree is the body of the dish and it should be thick enough to coat a spoon.
4. THE MEAT IS BRAISED SEPARATELY AND GOES IN LATE. Browned, then cooked with the onions, ginger, garlic and ground spices for an hour and a half until tender. Simmered in the puree from raw it would be grey and the puree would catch.
5. TAMARIND AND JAGGERY TOGETHER, AND TASTE AS THEY GO IN. Three tablespoons of tamarind against two of jaggery is a starting point. The dish should be clearly sour and clearly sweet at once, not a compromise between them.
6. THE MASALA IS ITS OWN BLEND AND IT IS WORTH BUYING. Dhansak masala is heavier on cumin, coriander and cinnamon than a garam masala. Two tablespoons in a pot this size.
7. SIMMER THE MEAT AND THE PUREE TOGETHER FOR TWENTY MINUTES. Stir often -- a lentil puree with meat in it catches on the base the moment you turn away.
8. THE RICE IS CARAMELISED, WHICH MEANS SUGAR BROWNED FIRST. Two tablespoons melted in a pan until it is deep amber, then a little water, then the soaked rice and the cinnamon, cooked as a pilaf. Brown rice from sugar, not from stock. Fried onions over, and the dhansak beside it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes