Ma er Tetor Dal ~ Dal with Bitter Gourd

…or My Mother's Bitter Dal is a Dal or Lentil Soup with veggies like Lauki or Bottle Gourd and Karela or Bitter Gourd. This is also an entry for this week’s WHB from both me & my Mother.

I wanted to highlight the vegetable Karela or Bitter Gourd for this week’s WHB hosted by Anna of Anna's Cool Find. Karela or Korolla as we say in Bengali and its smaller cousin Uchche, which I can rarely find in the stores here, is a very popular vegetable in Bengali cuisine. As I said earlier (in Shukto post) the first course of a Bengali meal is usually bitter to cleanse the taste buds. The Bitter Gourd serves this purpose delightfully and so is much loved in Bengali households. Uchche Bhaja - Thinly sliced Bitter Gourd and then fried, Uchche Begun – Bitter Gourd and Eggplant chopped in small pieces and then sauted, Uchche-Alu Seddho – Bitter Gourd and Potatoes simply boiled and mashed with little mustard oil and salt are almost every day part of a typical Bengali cuisine. And Bengali cuisine doesn't want to get rid of the bitterness of Bitter Gourd, no way, they need that bitterness in full volume.
Me who did not love this bitter tasting veggie much had a hard time growing up as any one can imagine. Even now while D chomps on boiled Karela gleefully I swallow it down with water and sugar!! I guess it's an acquired taste and not everyone can appreciate the bitterness. However as I grow older or old as is the case, I appreciate this veggie more and try to incorporate it in some form in my diet.

Since my Ma is here, over the weekend I tried out this Dal with her narrating the steps and also judging each of my steps. Bitterness is mellowed down in this Dal and though it is called Tetor Dal or Bitter Dal, bitterness is just a mellowed fleeting taste intermingling with the subtle sweetness of the lauki or bottle gourd and the taste of the yellow Moong Dal itself. The "T" in Tetor is pronounced as "T" in Tai-chi with the tip of your tongue touching the base of your teeth

This Dal is best enjoyed with white rice accompanied with a veggie side or with some veggie fritters and usually served at lunch. This is served not only as an everyday dal but also if you are serving a traditional Bengali lunch.

You can also have it by itself like I did yesterday, a bowl of this Dal with some crisp salad of finely chopped cucumber and carrots in lime juice.

Read more...

Tetor Dal

What You Need

Split Yellow Moong Dal ~ 1 cup
Lauki or Bottle Gourd ~ 6oz cut into large cubes as seen in the above pic. I used a little less than half of a medium sized lauki
Karela or Bitter Gourd ~ 1 cut into small pieces as seen in the pic
Ginger ~ 2" grated

For Phoron or temperingMustard seeds ~ 1/2 tsp mustard
Green Chillies ~ 4-5 slit

Salt
Oil
Ghee ~ 2 tsp

How I Did It

Wash, Peel and chop the Lauki or bottle gourd in large pieces a seen in the pic.
Wash & Chop the karela or bitter gourd in small pieces as seen in the pic
Heat a Kadhai or Frying Pan
Dry roast the split yellow moong dal till you get that nice roasted smell and see the dal has browned very lightly
In a pressure cooker, cook the now roasted dal and the lauki with twice the amount of water i.e. dal : water in ratio of 1:2
Heat Oil & 1 tsp of Ghee in a Kadhai/Frying Pan. My mother uses Ghee but I used Canola and a little bit of ghee for that flavor. You can do this in ghee if you want
Sauté the chopped karela till they are lightly browned and remove and keep aside
Add 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds to the oil
When the Mustard starts sputtering add the grated ginger and slit green chillies
Sauté for a couple of minutes and add the pressure cooked dal and lauki
Sauté a little and add the fried karela
Add about 3-4 cups of water
Add salt and bring to a boil
Add about ½ tsp of Ghee before you take the Dal off the heat
Enjoy with white rice and other veegie sides. We had this with thinly sliced potato fries and hot white rice


Why Bitter Gourd is Good For you

This is a tropical and subtropical vine, which is widely grown for edible fruit. The fruit is among the most bitter of all vegetables. This is also known as Bitter Melon and there is a Chinese as well as Indian variety
The bitter melon more typical of India has a narrower shape with pointed ends, and a surface which is ridged. It looks like the one shown in the above pic and is known as Karela in Hindi and Korolla in Bengali. There is another smaller variety which is commonly known as Uchche in Bengal and is supposed to be more bitter.
Bitter Gourd aids or stimulates digestion. It is also very useful in treating Diabetes Melitus and helps control Blood Sugar. Compounds in this bitter vegetable may also be effective for treating HIV. Check Wiki here for more info.
Another Good Source of Bitter Gourd info -- here

Note: Pressure Cooker tips from IndoSunGod


Trivia:Other than India the Bitter Gourd also known as Bitter Melon is very popular in China, Vietnam, Phillipines, Bangladesh and Pakistan

Remove Plagiarism

Plagiarism -- much has been said about it and I am not going to reiterate.

But it hurts to see when the content and the pictures we so lovingly create and put up being stolen and used. Most of us bloggers, blog to vent their creativity, they find it as a channel to showcase their passion, to share what they love doing with million others.
We all know that Internet is open and we were always aware that our work could be used by others, after all we all use free icons, free javascrips, free information. But we do that only when it says that is for "FREE". We do not abuse the free availability of this information (though there are people who do so)

However when we bloggers want to protect our content and we state that explicitly in the copyright statements all we expect is the user to use that information but not to lift it straight off our web page. We want them to post a request in the numerous comments that we have, to ask our permission, to use the content if permission is given and in the manner the owner says and last but not the least to give due credits. This is not much to ask for, after all we are entitled to our creative copyrights.

If large organizations like Yahoo do not behave responsibly and lift contents as stated here, we can not expect much from small independent sites like AndhraMirchy.com etc. It would not do Yahoo much good if they rise up one morning to see an exact replica of their portal with their Logo, Design and Content stolen, right ? And that's why they have lawyers drawing up statements like
"Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, terminate the accounts of users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. "

So why don't they practice what they preach ? Boo to Yahoo and join us on March 5th

MySpice -- Mustard

Mustard as a spice is an important part of Indian cooking.The whole Mustard seeds are used for tempering, to add flavor to the oil. The Mustard paste is very popular in mostly Bengali or east Indian cooking. Mustard Oil is also an important part of Bengali Cooking and traditional Bengali Cooking mostly used Mustard Oil as the cooking medium. Even now when many households in Bengal have grown more accustomed to the other white oils, Mustard Oil is still the favored oil for frying and cooking fish. A recent study shows that Mustard Oil as a cooking medium reduces the chance of heart disease by 70% and it also an excellent source of anti-oxidants (source: Wiki)

There are three kinds of Mustard seeds -- Black, Brown and White/Yellow depending on the Mustard plant.

Mustard paste or oil adds a sharp, spicy taste to food. Both the Brown and Black Mustard seeds are used in Indian cooking, the brown one more popular for making the paste.

Brown Mustard seeds are considered good for digestion and for alleviating stomach discomfort as gas and cramps (source: Maharishi Ayurveda) Mustard Oil is also widely used for massage in Northern India. Even now when my daughter catches a cold, I heat a spoonful of mustard oil with garlic flakes and rub the warm oil on her chest and on the bottom of her feet. My dad says, his grandma used to tell them to rub mustard oil on their big toe before bath as that helps eyes to remain healthy, this piece of information is not proven though and might be a lore
Mustard seeds were used medicinally not only in India but also by the Greek and the Romans

Update: From the coments I gather that many of you are unaware of use of mustard paste in Bengali Cooking. We grind mustard to a paste with green chillis and salt and use that extensively in many of our cooking. This cannot be substituted with the Mustard Sauce we get in stores here as it lacks that sharpness. A particular mustard based sauce called "Kasundi" is very popular in Bengal. It is used as a dip and is best when eaten with rice and alu seddho (boiled potatoes) or any sauted greens.
Sorshe Bata or Mustard Paste is ubiquitous ingredient in Bengali cuisine. The best Bengali fish curries always have a mustard based sauce. Even vegetarian dishes like Shukto, Charchari (shall blog soon) etc. have mustard paste as the only spice.
The black mustard when ground to a paste may be slightly bitter so it is ground with a little poppy seeds (optional) and green chillis and salt. This somehow never happened at home when the Shil Nora was used for grinding.
Radhuni is not mustard, it looks more like Ajwain and maybe in the same family, but it is not Ajwain and has a stronger smell & flavor. Its hard to get Radhuni outside Bengal and I don't have any.

So add that little Mustard to your food in whatever form you like best and enjoy.

Trivia: Aristocrat Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf founded the Order of the Mustard Seed in Germany in 1715 inspired by the Parable of Mustard Seed told by Jesus