Quick Pink Parippu (Dal) Curry

And... we're back!! 

If you've been following my instagram (@ayurfit) you'll know I've been in Kerala for most of April visiting family, learning new recipes (yay! :P), eating all the food and... preparing for our FIRST TOUR GROUP! It was 5 days of sight-seeing, Ayurveda massages and eating (uh, sign me up... again! :P ) and here's what our friends thought of it! 

It was amazing to say the least. It was a perfect balance between wellness (Ayurveda) treatments and seeing Kerala's lush beauty. More pictures will be up on Instagram & Facebook (@ayurfitinc) as the week progresses <3

On a side note, something I've become more mindful of since cooking more and starting this food blog (circa Jan 2017) is being grateful and appreciating the food I've been eating. Sometimes I feel like we take it for granted (as we seem to do of nature in general...). These beautiful fruits and vegetables (and meat) have been carefully planted (inseminated in the case of animals), shown love, harvested, sold to the store, packaged and finally bought for us to consume. All that labour of love. The least we can do is be grateful and not waste any of that deliciousness. <3

So that's what I'm being more conscious of - to be grateful for the food I eat as I cook it and then later as I eat the dish. Because there's literally nothing worse than spending what seems like an eternity to nurture a fruit/ veggie, pluck it, prepare it and give it to someone who ends up dumping it and not even appreciating any of that energy that went into it! Ok, rant over. Nevertheless, I'm grateful it gave me a much needed kick up the a*s and a subsequent perception change. 

So, now that that's off my mind, WHAT'S ON THE MENU?

Valiammachi's parippu recipe <3 I told you I'd learnt a few new recipes! It's ridiculously simple and all you need is a pressure cooker and a small chatti (for the tempering). Slight change I made to it - I removed the tomatoes. Simply because I feel like a staple like parippu/ dal can do without the nightshade. :)

In Kerala, parippu is usually made with split moong dal, simply because that's the lentil that's readily available. However, in HK (possibly because we have a large community of North Indians and their cuisine tends to include a variety of dal) we interchangeably use other dals instead of split mung beans. This time I've used pink lentils/ masoor dal because we had a lot of it in our cupboard and, well, doesn't it look so pretty? :D

Ayurveda Dosha Compatability

Vata & Kapha 

Pitta - reduce chilli and garlic in the recipe.

1. In a pressure cooker (PC) add the red dal and 1 1/2 cups of water (the water level should be double the level of the dal). Then add chilli, onions, garlic, turmeric powder, curry leaves and salt. Close the PC and cook for 1 whistle on medium flame. Then, reduce flame to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Switch off and let steam be released naturally before opening. 

2. In a grinder, add the ingredients to be ground, with 2 tablespoons of room temperature water and pulse 2-3 times. Aim for a rough texture - it shouldn't become a paste. 

3. Once steam has released completely, open the PC, add the ground ingredients, 1/4 cup water and stir on medium heat. Let the dal come to a boil. Switch off flame and plate the dal.

4. In a chatti (small wok), add ghee and splutter mustard seeds. Then, add dry red chilli and curry leaves. Switch off flame once red chilli changes colour. 

5. Add the tempering to the dal, and stir before serving. Enjoy :)

Notes:

1. For parippu, ghee best complements the flavours hence the reason for using ghee for the tempering instead of coconut oil, as we have been for all the previous recipes (in case you were wondering :P). So, once you ladle the parippu onto steaming hot rice, feel free to add a dollop of ghee on top. YUM!