What’s Cooking in India?
India is a country with many tasty dishes! After the first Indian recipe, a Butter Chicken Recipe, we are now lucky to have a second recipe from India on the blog!
Mango Daal – Sweet and sour red lentils curry made with raw mango
Sunrita is from India but had been living in the UK for 13 years before moving to Switzerland. Her family is from Kolkata, the Eastern Part of India, and since her dad was in the Indian Army, Sunrita was fortunate to travel all around India and experience its different cultures. Sunrita moved to Switzerland for her husband’s job. She likes it here, because she feels it is a very safe country, with great outdoor life where children can run around freely and enjoy their childhood without the fear of overcrowded cities and traffic. Her family loves to go for hikes, swimming in open lakes and cycling.
She does miss India’s buzzing evening life where shops and entertainment outlets are open till late. ‘I do miss going out with my family for evening outings and its organized chaos!’ she says.
Sunrita runs her own little business as an Indian Food Coach and Spice Blogger, called Spice It Upp. She started running Indian cooking classes from home and soon realized that for a lot of people the main struggle was not about recipes, but about using spices and understanding the cooking method. Her classes are now a hands-on, sensual and holistic experience of experimenting and understanding different flavours, textures and tastes that simplify the use of spices for everyday cooking.
What Sunrita says about India and its food culture:
India is a country of diverse cultures, religions, languages, traditions and beliefs. It’s an intriguing and bustling country. The different customs and traditions of India give it a unique hue. From the Himalayas in the North, to the waves of the Indian Ocean in the South, India has a million different colours. Each of the 28 states have different languages and food that can be further divided by regions within those states and households.
The uniqueness of Indian cuisine is the use of spices irrespective of any economic, religious or cultural background. Its ingrained in every Indian dish.
Sunrita has learned a lot by eating and tasting and by watching her mother cook at home. She is a self- taught and experimental cook.
The Mango Daal recipe Sunrita shares with us is a vegetarian main dish, made in Eastern India during Summer. Raw mango is a good ingredient to cool off the body in the warm Summer months.
Mango Daal Recipe – Sweet and sour red lentils curry made with raw mango
Ingredient for 4 persons:
- Red Lentils – 1 cup (I converted and I have put 130 gr)
- Raw green Mango – ½ or one small , chopped into small pieces
- Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
- Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
- Whole red chillies – 2 (small ones, or 1 big one)
- Curry leaves – 8- 10 (I have found dried curry leaves in an Indian store in Geneva)
- Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
- Mustard oil/ Ghee/ Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons
- Water – 1 ½ cup (note from Let’s Explore, I have added 400ml of water)
- Sugar – 1 teaspoon
- Salt to taste
- Rice
How to prepare:
- In a large deep pan, add red lentils, water, salt, sugar and a teaspoon of turmeric and bring to boil.
- Once the water starts to boil, add chopped raw mango and continue to boil until the daal is done. Take care not to make the daal to mushy. (between 5 and 10 minutes)
- Remove the lentils from heat and set aside.
- Prepare the tempering spices in another flat pan. Heat mustard oil or your choice of oil in a flat pan.
- Now add the whole red chillies, curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and stir fry for a minute or two.
- Add the tempered spices to the boiled lentils and put the lentils back on heat again.
- Boil the daal infused with spices for 2-3 minutes further on low heat stirring in the spices.
- Serve hot with plain boiled rice.
Thank you Sunrita for sharing this delicious recipe with us! If you would like to learn more of Sunrita’s recipes, you can check out her blog, and if you are in the Basel area, do check out her cooking classes on Spice it Upp!
