Nagpuri PhoDNicha Varan is the latest in our #30daysofdaal. I already have a spring in my step and am feeling good inside just knowing that I am eating daal every day.
I am calling this Nagpuri PhoDNicha VaraN because this recipe hails from the central Indian city of Nagpur. OK. I know you probably guessed that.
A quick translation – PhoDNi is the Marathi word for Tadka or tempering. VaraN refers to cooked daal. So this is tempered cooked daal Nagpur style. This is a family recipe of sorts. This daal was a mainstay in our kitchen when I was growing up. I think this had some sort of masala added but my mom insists it doesn’t. Since chances are greater that she is right, this recipe is pretty simple.
Daal, especially toor daal was/ is a big part of the diet in the central plains. The region has extreme temperatures and summers are consistently 45C. Other than a few winter months, not a lot of vegetables are available in the heat. Hence there is a heavy dependence on lentils and legumes.
A meal without toor daal was unheard of in our home, almost sacrilege.
One of the reasons I embarked on this #30daysofdaal project is to bring back the habit of eating daal every day. As we become exposed to different types of cuisines, the traditional Indian meal is taking a backstage. Time constraints and a busy lifestyle mean that we rarely eat every component of the meal that we grew up eating. So dinner is often just daal-rice or roti and subzi or some starters and rice instead of the roti, subzi, daal, rice and salad which forms the basic Indian meal.
What happens when you take away even one component from something? It becomes incomplete or unbalanced. This imbalance in our daily diets then manifests itself in different forms, the least innocuous being nutritional deficiency.
Daal supplies most of the protein in the vegetarian Indian diet. And this Nagpuri PhoDNicha VaraN is so easy and fuss free, it won’t take much of your time.
Nagpuri PhoDNicha VaraN – 2 Step Daal Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups toor daal cooked
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- Pinch of hing or Asafetida
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- Salt to taste
Method
- Cook about 1 cup of dry toor daal with turmeric and 2-3 cups water in a pressure cooker.
- This cooked daal is the starting point of the recipe.
- Mix cooked daal and water, whisk well and bring to a boil.
- Heat oil in a small wok or kadai.
- Add mustard seeds and let them pop for a bit.
- Switch off heat.
- Add hing or Asafetida and the cayenne pepper.
- Immediately pour this over the daal.
- Now bring the daal to a boil – just let the mixture come up once and switch off heat immediately.
- You want to lightly mix the tadka with the daal but still leave some at the top.
- Serve hot with rice or as part of an Indian meal.
Have any of you seen this recipe before? Some people also call it paLi phoDNicha varaN. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Don’t forget to check out some of the other yummy daal recipes like Daal Tadka or Dahi Vaali Daal.
there is another variation that my mother taught me as i have been on my own in the Gulf and experimenting at cooking various dishes from memory…. simple variation… varan has to be cold.. and that makes it very convenient.. take it out of the fridge.. sprinkle red chilli powder in abundance over varan.. ani tadka dyaycha.. ghee hing mustard cumin curry leaves and chopped garlic if u want.. thanks… chaitanya0