Ttok Rhubarb Daal & Indo Chinese in June
You read right, I wrote a recipe.
Scroll down to the end for JUNE MENU REVEAL!
**12th & 21st June ONLY**
UK spring is… well, unpredictable at best. One day I am walking around spotting wisteria in Notting Hill, and the next I’m sitting in my blanket with two candles on. But no matter what’s happening outside, I like to summon a little summer into my kitchen—with recipes that carry the warmth and that sweet hit of nostalgia.
One of my absolute favourites is ttok daal—a light, sour Bengali staple traditionally made with green mango (kancha aam). I have vivid memories of eating it in Kolkata, when the 2pm sun was so fierce it buzzed and there was no way we would be going shopping for a few hours. A bowl of this brothy daal, aloo posto, possibly a bhaja and some steamed rice, and a quiet lie-down under the fan... it was practically a ritual.
I grew up eating daal every day (unless it was an occasion). Daal was and will always be a staple. But I remember that really having a dislike for daal in my teenage years. Maybe it was the mundane nature of it, or that it made me seem uncool in school sometimes. But after a week in university and ordering out Dominos and eating greasy takeout food - daal was my saviour. I made the worst few daals during that first month. Some were inedible, the others made me learn. I remember when I asked maa for a recipe on the phone - she told me she had none. This recipe below is something I jotted down after making this daal for events during the last month!
Bengali Ttok Daal with Rhubarb
2 cups washed urid daal
4 sticks rhubarb, chopped
2 green chillies
½ tsp minced ginger
½ tsp panch foron (Bengali five-spice with celery seeds—don’t skip it!)
½ tsp turmeric
1.5 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp fennel powder
Big handful of fresh coriander, stems and all
2 tbsp mustard oil
Bonus: a few curry leaves just bruised by hand and/ or zest and juice of ½ lemon for a little extra oomph
Method:
Boil your daal until soft. In a separate pan, fry everything else in mustard oil for 3–4 minutes. Add the tempered spices into the daal and simmer for 10 minutes. The final taste should be slightly sweet and sour, of course balanced with salt (if your rhubarb is not greatly sour, you can seek the help of a pinch of citric acid or a dollop of nice rhubarb jam). The green chilli in your tarka should just be halved, as it is used more for its fragrance rather than its heat.
Eat it room temperature with rice - if you're feeling like eating no carbs then this newsletter might not be for you.
P.S I am not giving you a recipe of the final dish because I believe final, ready and good looking dishes sometimes deter people from cooking. Something I have been thinking about quite often as I am pondering if I ever write a cookbook. But more on that in the next newsletter.
Daal is more broth-like for us
Bengali daal is really thick. Unlike most restaurant daal that you get in the UK, our daal is more like a broth. The lentils break up but we don’t let it turn to mush. We also very rarely use onion and garlic in our daal and there is no dairy involved, just simply water and lentils. Of course some banging tarka (tempering) - typically whole spices - to spruce up the daal.
Different lentils for different seasons, different tarka, herbs, garnishes. We usually eat our daal with rice (bhaat) and with our hands. Having a thick, more Northern Indian, daal works more for bread and ours is the perfect brothy accompaniment to rice. It was and still commonly is a way to make the dish cheaper and feed more mouths as daal bhaat is such a staple in Bengal.
I have always thought the beauty of our cuisine lies in the creativity of our home chefs. Those aunties, mothers and relatives that toil in the kitchen making new and varied daal recipes. It is not found bound in recipe books but in storytelling and feeding. I used to find it annoying when I was at university asking for recipes from maa and she gave me none, but an adult me appreciates the flexibility in my home cuisine. Using what might be in the shops, my fridge or what my mood wants and relying on techniques and methods that can be used as I need.
