Dalma

Dalma is what an Odia kitchen makes on an ordinary Tuesday, and it is also what goes to the Jagannath temple kitchen in Puri as part of the mahaprasad, cooked in stacked earthen pots over a wood fire. It is dal and vegetables cooked together in one pot, no onion, no garlic, hardly any masala. The pumpkin dissolves into the dal and quietly sweetens it. The raw banana stays firm. The brinjal goes silky. Then the tempering is poured in from a small pan, ghee with panch phoron and whole dried chillies, and the whole pot hisses and goes quiet again. Finally the bhaja jeera guda goes over the top, cumin and dried red chilli roasted till they are almost black and ground coarse, and the smell that comes off that is the smell of the dish.

Ghee is not a garnish in dalma, it is the tempering fat, and it changes the dish. Gir Cow's A2 Ghee has a high smoke point, so panch phoron can be fried in it to the point where the fenugreek just turns colour without the ghee burning, and it leaves a rounded, milky richness behind that oil cannot. It is also what makes the plain vegetables taste like a meal rather than boiled dal. Add a spoon of raw ghee at the very end as well, off the flame.

Cook the vegetables in the dal, not separately. That is the difference between dalma and every other dal with vegetables in it. Cut them big, put the hard ones in with the dal from the start and the soft ones in halfway, and let the pumpkin break down completely so it thickens the pot. Dalma should be spoonable, not runny, and you should be able to see pieces of vegetable in every serving.

How to make it

1. Dry roast the arhar dal in a heavy pan on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until it smells nutty and a few grains turn a shade darker. Odia homes do this and it is what gives dalma its deeper taste. Rinse the dal after roasting.
2. Put the dal in a pressure cooker with the water, turmeric, potato and raw banana. Cook for 3 whistles, then let the pressure fall on its own.
3. Open, add the pumpkin, brinjal, tomato, green chillies and salt, and simmer uncovered on low for 12 to 15 minutes. Stir now and then. The pumpkin should collapse and disappear into the dal while the banana and brinjal stay in pieces.
4. Meanwhile, make the bhaja jeera guda. Dry roast the 1 tbsp cumin seeds and 2 dried red chillies on the lowest flame for 3 minutes, until the cumin is dark brown and smoking faintly, then grind coarse in a mortar. Set aside.
5. Check the consistency of the dal. It should fall thickly off a spoon and hold small mounds. If it is loose, simmer a few minutes more; if it is stiff, add half a cup of hot water.
6. Heat the 2 tbsp ghee in a small pan on medium. Add the coconut slivers first and fry 40 seconds until gold, then lift them out.
7. To the same ghee add the panch phoron and 3 dried red chillies. Wait for the seeds to crackle, about 15 seconds, then add the chopped ginger and fry 30 seconds until it smells sweet. Stir in the stone-ground red chilli powder and take the pan off the flame straight away.
8. Pour the whole tempering into the dal. It will hiss loudly. Stir it through, cover, and let it stand for 5 minutes off the heat.
9. Just before serving, stir in the fried coconut, the remaining teaspoon of raw ghee and half the bhaja jeera guda. Sprinkle the rest over each plate. Serve with plain rice.

Tips

• Roast the dal before cooking. Four minutes in a dry pan changes dalma completely. It is the single step most people skip and the one you will taste.
• Roast the cumin dark. Bhaja jeera guda should be almost black and smell smoky. Lightly toasted cumin will not stand up to the dal.
• No onion, no garlic. This is a temple dish and it is not missing anything. Do not try to improve it with a fried onion base.
• Vegetables change with the season. Raw papaya, arbi, drumstick, yam and jackfruit all belong in dalma. Keep the pumpkin, though, because that is what thickens the pot.
• Grind the jeera guda fresh each time. Made in advance it goes flat within two days. It takes three minutes and it is worth doing on the day.