Dalcha Hyderabadi

Cooking Time: 15-20 mins                                    Servings: 5

Preparation Time: 15-20 mins           Category: Veg
 

Hyderabadi cuisine is prominent since the Nizams. We hyderabadi's are large repertoire of spices, rice, wheat and meat food dishes. The Hyderabadi Biryani and Hyderabadi Haleem, with a blend of Mughalai and Arabic cuisine had become some of the iconic dishes of India. Hyderabadi cuisine is highly influenced by Mughals and partially by French, Arabic, Turkish and Irani food along with the influence of native Telugu and Marathwada cuisines where rice, wheat, spices and meat are widely used to great effect bringing in a unique taste to the Hyderabadi dishes. The other popular unique native food dishes include Nahari, Kulche, Chakna, Baghara baingan and in desserts Qubani ka meetha, Double ka meetha and Kaddu Ki Kheer (a sweet porridge made with sweet bottle gourd). 
In this post I am going to share one of the popular household dish recipe in Hyderabadi cuisine i.e Dalcha. It is also known as Kaddu ka Dalcha and is mostly prepared with chana dal, tamarind paste, mutton (optional). I have not used mutton here.
Toor dal can also be used but I would strongly recommend chana dal as it packs the powerful punch to your taste buds which toor dal doesn't do. What Sambar is to Chennai similarly dalcha is to Hyderabad. So, here goes the recipe:-

Dalcha

Ingredients
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Kaddu or bottle gourd - 250 gms
Tamarind paste - 100 gms
Chana dal - 250 gms
Onions - 2, sliced
Tomato - 1, finely chopped
Mint/Pudina and coriander - 50 gms each, finely chopped
Green chillies - 5, sliced
Ginger garlic paste - 50 gms
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Ghee or refined oil - 3 table spoons.
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 4 tsps
Salt - to taste

**You can either use only ghee/oil or mix them both. But again I recommend ghee for that perfect taste. If you don't want to use ghee then go for refined oil and add 2 tsp of ghee on top of the dish before serving it hot.

Preparation

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• Peel the skin off bottle gourd and cut it into small rectangular pieces (2 inches each). We do not want the seeds, so remove them too.
• Wash chana dal properly and soak it in water for about 5 mins. Drain out the water and take the dal into a pressure cooker.
• Add equal amout of water and cook it for 2-3 whistles and turn off the stove. Keep it aside.
• Take a vessel and add ghee/oil to it. Once it is heated, add bottle gourd pieces and cook them for 2 mins.
• Now add onions and chillies to it and cook it until the onions turn golden brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, salt, coriander powder, 1/2 tsp of garam masala, coriander and pudina.
• Mix it well and let it simmer for 10 mins so that all the flavor of the spices is absorbed by bottle gourd.
• Add the tamarind paste, 2 cups of water and bring the dish to a boil. All the aroma it releases will be heavenly.
• Now add the cooked dal to it and stir it well until it absorbs everything and becomes semi-liquid. Cook it until it starts boiling.
• Add 2 small cups of water again and simmer it until the bottle gourd pieces are cooked completely.
• When it is done, add the remaining garam masala and turn of the stove. If you want it spicy, another 1 tsp of the same can be added.
• Garnish it with a tsp of ghee, finely chopped coriander leaves and server hot with steamed rice or Hyderabadi Bagara rice or Jeera rice etc.

***My next post will be Hyderabadi Bagara Rice.***

Chepala Pulusu (Fish Curry with tamarind sauce)

Cooking Time: 15 mins                      Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 30 mins                Category: Non-Veg

This dish is very popular in Andhra Pradesh. It is mostly spicy and one of the best Indian fish recipes. People use many varieties of fish to prepare this dish but I would suggest Korameenu (Kingfish) as the best fish for this recipe. This dish was originated from Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh state of India. It is also called as Meen Kozhambu in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of south India.
Here is my version of the recipe:-

Chepala Pulusu

Ingredients
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Fish = 1 Kg (Korameenu/Kingfish)
Tamarind = 100 gms
Big red Onions =  3
Cumin seeds = 1 tsp
Fenu greek seeds = 1/2 tsp
Coriander = 1 spring
Coriander powder = 1 tsp
Curry leaves = 8-10
Green chillies = 6-8 (slit vertically)
Dry Coconut = 1 (chopped into small pieces)
Red chilly powder = 4 tsp
Salt = to taste
Turmeric = 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder = 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste = 3 tsp
Refined Oil = 4 Tablesps

Preparation

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• Dry roast cumin, fenu greek seeds and keep them aside. Then roast onions until they turn brown and once they are done repeat the same with dry coconut.
• Make a fine paste of all these and then to it add chilli powder,salt,ginger garlic paste,coriander powder and turmeric.
• Wash the fish pieces in water until the smell goes off. Then to it add 1/2 of the above masala paste and marinate it. Keep this aside for 5 mins.
• Add green chillies, curry leaves and the remaining masala paste to tamarind sauce.
• Heat oil in a kadai and to it add some cumin seeds and curry leaves. Once they crackle, add the fish and let them cook for about 10 mins on medium flame. Don't stir regularly as it will break the fish.
• Now add the tamarind juice with the mixture, close the lid and cook for another 10 mins or until it starts boils.
• Add a small cup of water and cook for another 10 mins.
• Remember not to stir regularly but be gentle when you do it.
• Turn off the stove, add garma masala and garnish the dish with finely chopped coriander.
• Server it after a couple of hours of cooking so that the fish aborbs all the flavor of tamarind sauce and the spices.
• It tastes best with steam rice, dosa, chapati or tandoori naan.