Vegetarian Dhansak

Vegetarian Dhansak 

Truth be told, for me my incredible love of Parsi food began when I moved to the erstwhile Bombay currently known as Mumbai in 2012. My stays are usually short in the City of Dreams but in that time I fell head over heels in love with this cuisine which is unique with its influence of Persian cuisine and of course the Western Indian influence. One of the dishes which caught my fancy was the Dhansak. Traditionally made with mutton (goat meat) it is also made with chicken. Now I usually avoid store bought spice mixes and so have made a big container of  Dhansak Masala. Now I was swamped with work this one day and had no chicken or mutton but a big box of this magic spice and what I like best about Dhansak is the addition of vegetables which makes it a super nutritious meal with some rice or chapati. Well traditionally it is taken with brown rice but I teamed it with some chapati (Indian wholewheat flat bread) since I prefer my flat bread. What attracts me is the fuss free preparation. Now there are many different family recipes but this is the  one I follow.

Serves 2

1/2 cup toor pulse
3 cups of water
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 small to medium onion
1/2 a big tomato
1 heaped tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander, cumin powder in equal portions
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp  Dhansak Masala

Simply pressure cook the pulse and pumpkin with 1.5 cup of water and half the amount of ginger garlic paste. Once done let it cool and blend away to make thick pulse paste and now heat some oil and add the remaining ginger garlic paste, add sliced onions and blend tomatoes. Once sauteed well add the cumin coriander powder , turmeric and chili powder. Add the blend pumpkin pulse and the rest of the water and bring to a boil and add the Dhansak Masala. Simmer for sometime and then serve with hot rice or chapatis.