ROASTED MUNG DAL AND THE MISSING FISH HEAD

THIS IS A VEGETARIAN  DISH ( making it non-veg is optional, see at the end).

The excitement of house painting, flower vase breaking, which went  unnoticed then, were over. The kitchen was recommissioned in a hurry by my wife ( I pretended that I was doing all the work).

I quickly fixed up the menu and moved in to the kitchen. The Dum Gobi -Alu, which all of you have tasted virtually and appreciated virtually too,  was cooked in no time. 

For a mandatory non-veg dish I was wondering what I should cook, there was nothing in the  fridge to my knowledge and that was a matter of great concern. I was tired of eating all kind of delivered dishes from the near by food joint.

Suddenly I remembered, a fish head ( Rui fish) was supposed to be there in the  fridge.  Now I could cook my wife's favourite dish, the Dal with fish head. I was relaxed, took out a cigarette from my secrete vault, went to the balcony had a healthy and refreshing smoke, dig a bit of soil from the money plant pot, buried the bud, covered it and came back to kitchen. ( I think the money plant is dead because of excessive nicotine in the soil).

Alas , when I opened the fridge , the fish head was missing. I called up my wife and came to know that the fish head had been donated to the maid before the painting started. But that did not solve my problem. Every thing had been lined up, roasted dal, spice paste etc etc.

I didn't have a pond in my back yard from where I could catch a fish , behead it and use. ( This back yard facility dialogue is learnt from Bong Mom's blog  'I didn't have a goat tied in my backyard and so had to resort to mushroom...( Goat Liver was not available , so Mushroom was used)'. But Bong Mom came up with the Mushroom alternative,  I was not lucky , so decided to proceed without the fish-head; after all grape is sometime sour so also fish head is bad for health under the circumstances. 

So I decided to cook the dal without fish head..and believe me , the taste was superb and I did not miss the fish head at all..

Logically I should stop here now because any one can go to internet and find a recipe for " Dal with fish head bong style" and cook it without the fish head.

 But I am just writing the recipe based on what I did and for the vege friends...Vege friends will never look at the recipe if it contains fish head.

THE RECIPE; 
The recipe is very simple with the usual spices. What makes the aroma so distinct is the combined effect of the condiments and  roasted Mung dal. The flavor  will be very different with any other dal but wont be anywhere near the roasted Mung dal dish. The presence or absence of fish head doesn't change the flavor significantly.

INGREDIENTS

Mung Dal 1 cup ( 150 ml)

Green chili 4-6 number
Tomato 1 medium cut to 4 pcs

Onion 1 small 1.5 inch , chopped fine

Onion 1 small ground 

ginger paste 2 tsp

garlic paste 1 tsp.

Cumin powder 1tsp

coriandor powder 2 tsp 

chili powder 1 tsp

Sugar 2 tsp ( level)

Oil 4 tsp, + ghee 2 tsp ( for garnishing) ( you can use oil and ghee more)

for the dal boiling 
Turmaric 1 tsp ( level) 
cinamon 3/4 inch broken
clove 2 smashed
cardamom 2, smashed
Juliens / chopped  ginger 1 heap tsp
Salt to taste
For seasoning 

Red chili dry 2

cumin 1 tsp level

cardamom 2

Cinnamon 1 in 

clove 2

Black cardamom 1

Bay leaf 1

Optional (I did not use here) 

1/2 tsp bengali garam masala ( powder form equal proportion of cardamum, cinamon, clove) 

PROCESS

Roast the mung dal on medium heat and stir continuously for unifirm roasting until it changes color and you get the aroma of roasted mung Dal. Few grains of Dal may become light brown..dont worry.

Important. 

Keep one big plate handy, and as soon as the roasting is over, immediately transfer the dal to the plate for fast cooling. Wash Dal thoroughly when it is cool and drain. Dont put water when Dal is hot.

Soak cumin, coriandor, red chili powder in water for 15 minutes. 

Take a pan and boil Dal with ingredients for dal boiling given above. When Dal is cooked stir to make it smooth and keep aside.

Note: In India , if you are using dip tube well water or hard water, boil Dal with mineral water or RO water..basically a soft water is good for Dal.

In A Kadhai or dip pan, put oil and when hot give seasoning , add the chopped Onion and fry , to light brown, (few will become brown).

Add the onion paste and fry on medium heat , when oil starts appearing , add the garlic paste fry for a minute and add ginger paste stir and immediately  add the spice paste and fry for few minutes. ( sprinkle water a little , if it  tends to burn out.)

Add the tomato and stir ( it will just get bit softened but will maintain shape.

Add the dal and mix,  adjust consistency to thin Dal ( close to Sambar or slightly thicker) and boil for 2-3 minutes with lead covered.

Add green chili

Adjust salt and add sugar ( Bongs have  sweet tooth, the sugar is added just to give a very slight sweet note..you may increase the sugar to your taste) 

Add ghee and mix.

sprinkle garam masala ( if you decide to use it for a strong flavor) 

Eat with hot rice.

FOR THE NON-VEGE ( To make with fish head)

The process remains essentially same. Wash and Marinate the fish head ( cut into large pieces)  with turmaric and fry pieces to light brown to brown. Break furhter as the fish gets fried. 

Add the head pieces to the dal after giving seasoning and boil for 5-7 minutes.

And finally another Hibiscus for my foodie friends