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Made for lazy Sunday dinners, and as part of any wedding feast͙ Its quite simple to make, though the
list of ingredients that go into it can be daunting͙ Assemble everything you need before you start. Also
it will need preparation, and you will need to start at least 7 hours in advance of the meal, preferably a
day. This recipe is an amalgamation from the techniques used by 2 of my grandmothers, 3 of my aunts
and my mom, along with some very personal twists of my own
Dhan is rice, Sakh (shakh) is the mixture of dals and veggies. Traditionally Dhansakh is served with brown
rice, but i really don͛t like that rice so i serve mine with a very light white rice pulav. Please read the
entire recipe once or twice before starting to cook.

    

Take 1 big fistful of rice for each person you are cooking for. Wash the rice well.
Peel and cut 2 big carrots into long thin strips.
Cut 2-3 big potatoes into medium sized chunks
In a cooker, melt a dollop of butter or ghee and add 4 cloves, 2-3 1 inch pieces of cinnamon and 3-4
pieces of crushed cardamom. Add salt to taste and cook for a few minutes.
Add two generous handfuls of green peas, the chopped carrots and potatoes. Add water to cover the
rice by about 1/2 an inch and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Allow the cooker to cool down by itself
before opening it, around 15 minutes or so. Before serving, carefully empty into a flat dish, taking care
not to break the rice.

   
7 measures of Tuvar Dal to 1 measure each of the other non black dals: orange masoor, yellow moong,
white urad, yellow channa dal
Wash these well (at least 3-5 times) in warm water. And then soak in water for at least 5 hours,
preferably overnight.
Wash and cut roughly into medium sized chunks the following vegetables (the measure used here is of
1.5 Kg of Tuvar Dal, and will be enough for about 10 hungry people͙ When you are cooking Dhansakh,
its traditional to have friends over!)

1/2 a small cauliflower

1/2 a small cabbage
small piece of orange pumpkin (about 5-6 inches)
3 big carrots
3 small brinjals (eggplant)
4 small or 2 big potatoes
15 french beans
a generous handful of green peas
1 big bunch of spinach
1 big bunch of methi
10 big tomatoes
Keep aside for the vaghar (seasoning):
1 big piece of ginger (4-5 inches) finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic finely chopped or crushed
3 sprigs of curry leaves separated
4 dried red chillies
3 big tomatoes roughly cut
7 big tomatoes pureed
100 gms Dhania jeera powder
50 gms garam masala
250 gms Dhansakh masala (this is store bought and i prefer everest or maharaja to other brands)

In a very large (non aluminum) cooker or a very big heavy bottomed (non aluminum) vessel heat up 150
gms of butter or ghee. Add a 3 teaspoons of turmeric powder (haldi) and salt to taste. Add to this all the
vegetables and cook for about 10 minutes on high heat. Then add all the dals to it. Add water to cover
the dals and the vegetables, be careful that you don͛t add too much, the dhansakh dal is supposed to be
quite thick. Remember to add salt
If its in a cooker, let it cook for 5 whistles, then simmer for 15 minutes or so, and then let the cooker
cool down completely before opening it. If using a big vessel, cover with a tight lid add some water on
top of the lid and cook away until all the dals and veggies are completely soft. In a big vessel, do
remember to stir occasionally so that things dont get stuck to the bottom, and everything is cooked
evenly. On the normal gas stove at home, in a big vessel, it takes about 45 minutes on high heat.
Now in another heavy bottomed pan, heat up 100 gms of butter, add the vaghar stuff, the dried red
chillies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves and cook until lightly browned. Next add dhania jeera powder,
garam masala and dhansakh masala. Add salt to taste as well͙ though you need to remember how
much you added to the dals and veggies and adjust accordingly.
Cook until it browns a bit and you can start to smell its fragrance. Next add the cut tomatoes and cook
for another 10ish minutes. Finally add the tomato puree and cook until the oil separates out. Then cook
just a bit more. The masalas have to be thoroughly cooked.
Now add the cooked masalas to the cooked dals and let it merge and combine properly on high heat for
another 5-7 minutes.
With a hand grinder, blend this mixture completely to a silky smooth consistency. Let this boil on very
low heat for another 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally͙ the longer it boils the better, my
grandmother used to boil it for almost 2 hours! Though i find that 15-20 minutes is fine

Put rice on a plate and add the dal to completely cover it. As kids we would make a well in the center of
the rice so we could get even more dal :). Squeeze some fresh lime juice onto this. Eat it with a simple
cucumber and tomato salad (add some finely chopped cucumber to the recipe) and some lovely fried
cutlets on the side.

Always serve piping hot!