Dalia Pongal
Dalia (broken wheat, lapsi, bulgar wheat are several other names) is one of the power foods rich is iron, magnesium and phosphorous. It is more nutritious than rice, as it contains more fibre, more vitamins and minerals, and has a better glycemic index than white rice or refined flour.
Dalia pongal is a delicious dish that also happens to be really good for you. In India, those suffering from illness are fed Dalia because of its health benefits. But you don't need to be sick to enjoy this tasty dish. Chop up some veggies and you will have yourself the perfect meal.
Today I am trying to replicate the pongal I had while staying at the Art Of Living centre in Bangalore for a week. Every day, they cooked an delicious breakfast which was not only nutritious (with less oil & spices), but tasted amazingly good. I was never a fan of dalia until I tasted this pongal and it was so good, that I felt I could have easily opted for a second helping. But then I stuck to the rules of eating light but very determined to cook it once I was back home. So here I am presenting this dalia pongal, which always reminds me of the fulfilling stay I had at AOL ashram
What you'll need :
1/2 cup dalia (for 2 servings) 1/2 cup vegetables cut into squares ( I used only carrots) 1/4 cup milk 1 tbsp ghee 4-5 peppercorns 1/2 tsp asafoetida 1 tsp mustard seeds 7-8 curry leaves 2 slit green chillies 1/2 tsp grated ginger 1 tsp cumin seeds 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1 red chilli split into 3-4 pieces salt as per taste
How to:
Wash and clean the dalia. Pressure cook with a cup of water, vegetables, peppercorns, green chillies for just one whistle. Once the pressure cooker cools down, transfer the dalia to a non-stick pan. Add salt and milk and allow it to cook until the mixture becomes a bit thick.
In another pan, add ghee and allow it to heat. Add mustard seeds and once it starts to splutter, add ginger, curry leaves, red chillies and sauté for 30 seconds before turning off the heat. Now add turmeric, asafoetida and cumin seeds. We add these after turning off the heat as they are very delicate spices and will lose their flavour easily in high heat.
Add this tempering to the cooked dalia mixture and mix well. Serve hot as is or with chutney.
PS : One of my friend's suggested that dry roasting the dalia will give a nice flavour to the dish. I couldn't agree more on that. So instead of washing the dalia and pressuring cooking, dry roast it and them pressure cook :)