Dhanshaak

Recipe of Dhanshaak

On the demand of friends, this weekend it was a night of Parsi cuisine. I ended up making the richest and widely made recipe in every Parsi household kitchen, the Dhanshaak. 

Dhanshaak, in the verbal term, means lentil and vegetable. In itself, it's a wholesome meal but ideally served with brown rice or bread.

For, it is said, that traditional recipe varies from house to house and availability of vegetables in the freeze.

My version is as follow:

50 gms of split pigeon pea (toor dal)

50 gms of red lentil (masoor dal)

50 gms of yellow lentil (moong dal)  

A variety of other lentils can be used as per taste and availability.

one medium brinjal

one medium potato

a few cubes of bottle guard and pumpkin

two medium tomatoes 

bunch of fresh fenugreek leaves 

For Dhanshaak spice

2 dried red chili

1 green chili

few cumin seeds

few fenugreek seeds

2 cloves

peppercorns

a stick of cinnamon

For tempering

Oil 2 tsf

one medium sized chopped onion

salt to taste

If you are one of the friends who love their meat, feel free to add chicken breast or mutton. the recipe is as versatile as it sounds. 

Here we go:

In a pressure cooker, add the washed lentils, pigeon pea, peeled potatoes (cut in roughly 4 cubes), bottle guard, pumpkin, brinjal, tomatoes, and fenugreek leaves. Add the salt. add enough water just to soak the mixture. give a boil for three or four whistles.

After the whistles, blend the mixture in a blender. Usually, the consistency of Dhanshaak is very thick but one can add the water to this stage as per requirement.

Prepare the Dhanshaak spice:  Roast all the spice ingredients on a pan and blend them in a mixture jar with some water.

Prepare the tempering: In a wok (kadhai), take the oil. Add the chopped onions. saute till brown. At this point add Dhanshaak spice and wait for one minute till the spice get mature.

Add the tempering to the blended vegetable and lentil mixture. Boil the Dhanshaak in the wok for another five minutes. 

You are ready to serve.

My take, 

One of my parsi friend, who generoulsy hosted me for this recipe previously had added mint leaves in the vegetable mixture. I found the mint flavour overpowering the rest of mild flavours. So, I usually

avoid mint leaves in my blend.