Odiya food is simple yet delicious. It carries less fat and healthy of course. Here I am representing , Dalma, a traditional dish of Odisha. It is very popular throughout the world as it carries less oil and tastes heavenly. Simply dal or combination of dals cooked with veggies which is very nutritious.
Due to deep religious culture, odiya people often make food that is made without onion & garlic. Dalma is also a savteek food which always takes a special part in odiya thali. This is also a part of Chappan bhog , usually served to Lord Jagannath. Dalma is a quick prepared dish which yield delicious result.
Traditionally dalma is cooked in a clay pot. Vegetables are added to Dal, when it is half done. This process takes more time than usual. The using of pressure cooker cut the cooking time by almost 70% but at the cost of taste. Nothing can compare the taste of Dalma when cooked in clay pots.
Dalma is a combination of Dals and vegetables. Though Variety of dalmas are prepared in Odisha. People use different combination of dals and also vegetables. It can also be done with single dal and veggies. If you want to explore the taste of Dalma then keep on experimenting with different types of veggies and dals. This is suitable for all age group as it consists of essential vitamins, nutrients and minerals that present in vegetables.
Mug( green gram), lau (bottle gourd/louki) , dalma is also a traditional dish of Odisha where dal , chopped veggies are pressure cooked till done then temper with ghee, cumin seeds and dry chili, finally seasoned with roasted cumin chili powder. This is quite different from regular dalma and can be taken with chapati, rice or any variety of pulao.
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Passive Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 1/2 cup Split green gram (moong dal)
- 1 cup cubed potato
- 2 cups cubed Bottle gourd
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1 tsp Cumin seed
- 2 no Dry chili
- 1 no bay leaf (tej patta)
- a generious pinch of Hing
- 1 no Toamto (big)
- 2 tsp Roasted cumin & dry chili powder (see notes)
- to taste salt
Ingredients
for Tempering ::
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- In a dry karai or pan lightly roast the moong dal, don’t over fry and be careful not to make them brown.
- Stir continuously till you get a nice aroma. Take it out and set aside.
- Chop the louki and potato in big size cubes.
- Wash the dal with water for 3 -4 times.
- In a pressure cooker combine dal, cubed louki , potato, salt , turmeric powder along with 1 &1/2 cups of water.
- Close the lid, cook on medium flame till one whistle comes.
- Let the pressure release by itself.
- In the mean time you can chop the tomatoes and gather the tempering ingredients.
- Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan .
- Add cumin seeds, dry red chili and tej patta.
- Add hing when cumin seeds stop spluttering.
- Add chopped tomatoes along with lil salt.
- Mix and cover it with a lid.
- Let the tomatoes become mushy .
- Mix till the ghee comes out from the mixture, add cooked dal n veggies immediately.
- Add water if necessary. (water level depends on the consistency of Dalma you want).
- check the seasoning, add salt if required.
- Add roasted cumin seeds and dry chili powder on the top.
- Mix well and enjoy garam garam .
- Ghee is the important ingredient of this dish. so don't replace it.
- Click here for authentic dalma recipe .
- To make roasted cumin & dry chili powder , dry roast 1 tbsp cumin and 3 no of dry red chili and make coarse powder using a mixie.
- you may reduce or increase the amount of roasted cumin-chili powder.
This is really awesome share dear and very much comfort food..love to have it with chapati 🙂
Absolutely it is jolly.. it can be taken with any type of Indian flat bread.. thank you so much dear
even we use bottle gourd in red masoor dal…this dalma looks so good
Thanks Amrita.. . Never tried with masoor dal, try Korbo . Thank you so much dear