Vaal ni daal

This one here's a Gujarati classic.

We're going to make it the ol' school way. The irony of ironies is that the ol' school way is also the lazy person's way. Somewhere along the line there was a glitch in the transmission matrix, and generations of Indians have been wasting their time for no particular good reason.

As to who pissed in the pasta, the CC only has a vague guess, and no particular way of proving the hypothesis.

Rest happy in being modern (both indolent and ironic) and also ancient (preserving the flavor.)

Ingredients

1 cup vaal (split hulled field beans, soaked)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup cashewnuts

3 dried boriya chillies (read notes below)

1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
asafoetida
salt

oil

Recipe

A few notes on the ingredients.

You need the vaal soaked at least for 5-6 hours. These are very soft beans, and are pretty much going to "disintegrate" in the recipe.

The boriya chillies are these round ones that you can just fish out at the end. They are called that because they look like berries. The word is a cognate of "berry".

You need these babies.

If you don't have them, just substitute by regular ones, or in the worst case, a tiny bit of chilli powder. However you're definitely missing something. These are unique, and you can't just wish them away. Even most the CC's relatives dumb it down but the CC has ol' school purist tendencies.

A final note. You will see the recipe call for sugar. That is a sign of failure. With just pure skill (and the notes below), you will be able to get that characteristic sweet taste without any sugar.

That's our old friend, Maestro Maillard one more time with two ingredients, the vaal itself which has a unique sweetish taste, and the raisins.

After all these notes, you may think that the recipe is hard. Au contraire, mes amis, the recipe is almost shockingly simple.

The pictures are not great but there's really no time in the first few steps. Apologies.


Fry the cumin, and the ajwain and the asafoetida (not shown.)


Then, the boriya chillies. Note the coloring of the cumin.


Then, the cashews.


And, the raisins.


Finally, the beans which you have to ensure are dry after the soaking because you want to fry them, not just boil them. Not yet, anyway.


Watch the color turn darker.


Finally, add the water. You can always add more later.


Let it simmer on a slow burn until the beans are soft to your liking. The CC likes them on the chewy side.

While it is cooking, you will "smell" the heat from the chillies. Trust your senses. Fish them out when it "feels" right. You will know exactly what the CC means by this the first time you make it. It's pretty unambiguous.

The chillies will add a slow smoldering subtle heat to the final proceedings. This is quite emphatically not a "hot" dish. If anything it verges on a balanced interplay of sweet-spicy-savory.

Vaal ni daal