The Ingredients

This is what it looks like when the spices are toasting.

Soften the onions by lightly frying them.

Cut up the tomatoes, salt them, and then cook them in the fry pan.

The lentils after sitting in a closed pot for 20 minutes.

With onions, tomatoes, amchoor and chopped cilantro - just before stirring.

Grilling a chapati.

All mixed up and served with yogurt and chapati. Big bowls American style!

This is my recipe for Dhal, which has been modified through trial and error, borrowing from recipes provided by Jai and Dipti, recipes listed in this Indian Home Cooking cookbook, as well as my experiences in India. If you’re not familiar with dhal, it is any dish made out of boiled beans or lentils, usually with spices added. If you had the dhal at Mark and Walter’s new year’s brunch, this is it!

Oftentimes dhal is prepared by boiling the beans (lentils, mung beans, etc) in turmeric and salt, and then once done adding a tempering oil or tadka to finish. In this case I do the spices beforehand and then boil the beans, which seems to work well. (Tip of the hat to the Empress Dhal recipe in the cookbook mentioned above.)

I highly recommend getting a jar of ghee to fry the spices, onions and tomatoes. The difference in flavor is considerable and it is healthier than cooked butter or vegetable oil, due to its high smoke point. Read more on Wikipedia if interested.

Another great ingredient is mango powder, also called Amchoor or Amchur. It adds a subtle sour taste to the Dhal without the juice.

You can get all the ingredients listed below at Global Foods in Kirkwood.

Ingredients:
2 TBSP ghee (or vegetable oil)
1 TBSP cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mango powder
1/8 tsp garlic
1 cup split mung beans
salt
3 roma tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion
1 lime
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bag of chapati
Plain yogurt

Lightly fry the cumin seed and turmeric in the ghee. Use medium low or low heat, you don’t want to brown the cumin seeds. Just heat them enough until you smell them. Then add the garlic and the mango powder and stir, to get the flavors activated.

Next add 1 cup of mung beans and 2.5 cups of water. Add 1tsp salt and bring to a boil. Then lower heat to low, put a lid on it, and let it sit undisturbed for 20 minutes.

During that 20 minutes, roughly chop the onion and soften it in the ghee, careful not to brown or fry the onion. You just want to sweeten it. Once it is sweet and soft, turn up the heat to brown it slightly. Then set it aside. Chop up the tomatoes, sprinkle some salt on them, let them sit for a bit, then toss them in the fry pan with a little more ghee. Put a lid over the tomatoes so they cook down. While the tomatoes are going, chop up 1/3 of the cilantro bunch.

After 20 minutes, take the lid off the beans. Add a little water if it is too dry. Now add the onions, tomatoes and chopped cilantro. Stir, taste for salt, and add some if it needs it. Finally twist a quarter of a lime over the dhal to add the juice.

Let it simmer on low heat so the flavors meld. Now heat up a skillet with no butter or oil, and heat the chapattis. I usually make 4 for 2 people - but that’s because we eat big bowls with a little bread, instead of little bowls with lots of bread like they do in India. Oh, the land of big screen TVs and monster trucks.

Finally dish out the dhal into some bowls, add a dollup of plain yogurt and sprinkle on some cilantro. You’re all set!

I found the recipe in my favorite cookbook, The Best Recipes in the World. The Amchoor powder is a souring agent that doesn’t lose its bite when cooked. I buy it at the Indian section at Global Foods in Kirkwood, my favorite grocery store when I want something ethnic.

• cut up 3 baking potatoes into ~1 inch cubes
• chop up a medium onion
• boil the potatoes
• melt 2 tbsp butter in a fry man, medium hate
• jack up the heat to medium high and add the potatoes
• leave ‘em still for awhile so they brown, then carefully turn them over
• after both sides are brown, add the chopped onion
• cover with a lid or some aluminum foil to soften the onions
• once the onions are soft, add 2 teaspoons of amchoor, 1 teaspon of garam masala and a bit of cayenne pepper
• carefully stir to coat the potatoes and onions with the spices
• you’re all done!

I’m still not sure what “4-in-1 softy” means.

Number “57″ is spray-painted on the backs of their rented ski bibs.

George Luc in front of one of many shacks by the slope.

The “nutcrusher” day pass.

George on the nutcrusher ski lift.

At the top, ready for my first run.

George’s first time skiing.

The view from the top of the slope.

Snacks, chai and the ever-present plastic chairs at the foot of the slope.

Before heading to the desert state of Rajasthan for Jai’s wedding, George Luc and I got a ride north to Solang Valley for some skiing.

We arrived in Delhi 2am on Thursday, drove through the night and all the next day, arriving at our hotel in Manali late Friday night. (See this post for stops along the way.) After a breakfast of chapatis, curd and chai, we drove through downtown Manali and up to Solang Valley.

On the way to the ski “resort,” we passed 100 shacks. Each shack was conspicuously numbered, and was renting ski bibs and fur coats. The newlyweds posing below with George, so cute in their ski bibs, had giant 67s hastily spray-painted on their backs - indicating the shack where they rented the gear.

There was a Mexican standoff between a Yak and a snowplow, so we walked the last half mile. The walk afforded a closeup look at the homes of the “hospitality workers”. It was very smoky,

Once we arrived on site, our “fixer” got us set up with some very sketchy equipment - rusty bindings, repaired with duct tape, mis-matched skies. Amazingly the boots were a good fit. Time to hit the slopes!

After a couple of hours painfully riding to the top on the nutcrusher, only to slide our way down in horrible ski conditions (all slush), we sat down for some chai. The bottom of the hill was bedlam - people everywhere, a line of food stalls and chai stands, people para-gliding, ski mobiling, tubing and skiing. Everyone was having a blast. Despite the conditions I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. I’ve skied the Himalayas!