How to recreate a Sunday Dhansak lunch cooked in a Parsi home

Hyderabad: In most Parsi homes, it is the case of someone saying, “If it’s Sunday, there must be Dhansak for lunch.” ‘Dhan’ means rice—in this case, the rice is brown and fragrant with spices—and ‘Sak’ means lentils mixed with vegetables and meat. Actual Dhansak is made with mutton or lamb cubes. You can use chicken as well. It is a hugely popular dish.

On auspicious days, my friends generally ask me, “What’s cooking? Is it Dhansak?” But this dish is never cooked on birthdays, Navroz (Parsi New Year) or anniversaries. It is cooked on the fourth day after

a death in the family, when only the closest family members sit together for this non-vegetarian lunch after abstaining from eating meat in the days before this.

Mutton or Chicken Dhansak

Ingredients

500 grams of mutton (or chicken) cut into medium pieces (vegetarians can leave out the meat and enjoy masala dal)

1 cup mixed lentils (1/2 cup tur dal, ¼ cup red masoor dal, ¼ cup channa dal)

1 slice red pumpkin

A bunch of fenugreek (methi) leaves, chopped

2 small brinjals, cut into small pieces,

2 medium onions chopped finely

3 small tomatoes

2 green chilies

1 bunch green coriander leaves

1/2 bunch mint leaves

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Onion (chopped finely) 1

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste

2 tablespoons oil

How to make Dhansak masala?

(You can make double this quantity and store it in a bottle)

Grind together:

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

6 whole red chilies

1 cinnamon stick

2 cardamoms

4 cloves

2 bay leaves

4 peppercorns

1 star anise

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

¼ teaspoon shahjeera seeds

Method

In the pressure cooker, put in the mutton/chicken pieces, dals, vegetables, salt, chilies and turmeric powder. Cook till meat and dals are soft (about 20 minutes). Then, remove the meat pieces and mash

the dals and vegetables really well. Take 2 tablespoons oil in another pan, add the chopped onion, ginger garlic and ground ingredients. Fry till a rich colour is obtained. Then add the meat and fry really well. Add the vegetables and dals and simmer on a low flame.

There is a short cut while making this dish. Use a pressure cooker to directly fry the onions, ginger-garlic and Dhansak Masala, then add all the vegetables and lentils (soaked for 30 minutes) and put on the lid and pressure cook for about 15 minutes. Take another smaller cooker and cook the mutton or chicken pieces, and use some of the stock to thin the dhansak and keep the rest of the stock for soups. Use a hand blender to churn the dal and vegetables in the cooker after the mixture has cooled, put it in a dish to which you add the mutton or chicken pieces and a cup of the stock, bring to a boil and serve it along with kebabs and brown rice.

The thing to remember is that each Parsi family has its own recipe and combination of ingredients. Some only use Tur dal instead of mixing 3 kinds of lentils, others even put in moong dal, tamarind pulp and a dash of grated jaggery in Dhansak.

Some ingredients that are hard to find have been left out, but it has turned out well in every case. One can substitute diced potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots for pumpkin and brinjals and make do with whatever whole spices. Dhansak Masala is available in Mumbai and Pune in packets and now online too. For those staying elsewhere, use the recipe given above.

Dhansak without meat is called ‘Masala Dal’. Make it exactly the same way, without adding the meat or chicken pieces.

Kebabs

Ingredients:

500 grams minced mutton

1 medium onion, chopped fine and fried

2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon Garam Masala powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 bunch finely chopped fresh coriander

½ bunch finely chopped fresh mint leaves

2 to 4 finely chopped green chilies, according to taste

2 medium slices of bread

1 egg

1 cup dry bread crumbs

Oil for frying.

Method:

Soak bread in water for 10 minutes, remove from water and squeeze dry.

Mix together all ingredients, except bread crumbs and oil. Cover and keep for 1 hour.

Divide the mixture into 20 small balls and roll each ball in crumbs till lightly coated all over.

In a non-stick pan, shallow fry until brown.

Brown Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati or long grain rice

2 onions, finely sliced

2 more onions thinly sliced and crisp fried for garnish

3 teaspoon sugar

2 pieces cinnamon sticks of 5 cm (2 inches) each

6 cloves

2 bay leaves,

5 peppercorns

4 cardamoms

1 teaspoon cumin seeds,

A pinch of ‘shahjeera’ seeds

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons oil or ghee

Method:

Soak rice in water for 20 minutes.

Heat oil or ghee in a degchi and fry onion in it till brown. Add the whole spices.

Put in the sugar and let the onions and sugar turn dark brown.

Drain water from rice and add to onion. Cook for 5 minutes or till the rice is fried.

Add salt and 3 cups of water. Bring to boil, then cover lower flame and continue cooking till water is

absorbed, and rice is cooked.

Remove in a serving dish.

Sprinkle some fried onion on top before serving.

Kachumbar, or a salad with an onion base, is served with the rice, lentils and kebabs.

Kachumbar

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized onions chopped very fine

3 tomatoes chopped very fine

1 large cucumber, chopped very fine

2 green chilli,s chopped very fine

1/2 bunch coriander leaves and ½ bunch mint leaves, chopped very fine

Juice of 1 lime or ½ teaspoon malt vinegar

Salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

Method:

Mix all the vegetables together in a large salad bowl.

Add the lime juice/vinegar, salt, sugar and chili powder.

Mix well and serve.

No dessert is required after this lunch. When we were children and there were still Parsi Cricketers in Team India, if they happened to perform badly after lunch break, someone was sure to remark, “He must have had Dhansak for lunch.” This dish is so rich, yet so delicious that one goes on taking helpings even after one is full! One only stops when it is time to take a Sunday Siesta.