Dal aka lentils. In my household, dal is a routine affair at the dinner table. The spread usually comprises of a vegetable (generally dry), dal (different dals everyday), roti along with salad and papad. While the vegetable might be replaced with a meat curry or a dry meat dish, what remains constant is dal. A rich source of iron and protein, each dal has some important nutrient to offer. From my personal experience, I can tell you that a big bowl of dal and a plateful of salad used to be my dinner meal when I was trying to lose weight. I was skeptical about feeling hungry in the middle of the night because I had cut down carbs but to my surprise, the dal used to be so filling that there was never a day that I felt famished.
Now that we’ve established about the goodness of dal, doesn’t it seem a sin to let the leftover dal in your refrigerator go waste? To me, it does. So here are some easy ways in which you can give your leftover dal a delicious makeover.
1. Thalipeeth
Commonly eaten in Maharashtrian households, thalipeeth is a thin and flaky paratha that is slightly crisper. Mixed with jowar, spices like cumin, coriander and chilies are kneaded into the dough which is then rolled out and tossed on a tawa.
2. Dal Dhokli
Koftas made of wheat flour are dunked in a sweet and spicy dal-based curry, served with rice and chapatti. Apart from being a healthy treat, the dish is loaded with ghee and popular across Gujarat and Rajasthan.
3. Dal Tikki
For the uninitiated, tikki is a crispy cutlet, usually made of potatoes. However, if you have some leftover dal at home you can surely make a batter of it along with some chopped onions and coriander and flatten it in the shape of round cutlets.
4. Dal Ka Chilla
Referred to as poora in my Punjabi household, chilla is generally made of besan but you can use dal as an alternative. Mix the dal with some wheat flour and add onions, coriander and green chillies to it. Mix this in water to form a semi-liquid consistency and then spread it on a pan in a round pattern.
5. Dal Gosht
If you feel like going a little extravagant and enjoy a lavish dish then dal gosht is the one. Once the dal is mixed with the mutton and a host of spices, you won’t be able to recognize the fact that it was made with leftover dal. This succulent meat recipe is from the Mughlai fare.
