|
|
|
|
Help: What did I do wrong Dal recipe (indian) too sweet and too thick
On 3 Nov 2003 18:21:46 -0800, (anita) wrote:
>Hello,
>I tried to make dal with the following recipe (I live in the US) and
>it came out quite sweet and hot. What did I do wrong ? hot was fine,
>but I did not set out to make it SWEET!
>
>1/2 finely chopped supermarket onion (these are rather large)
>1/2 tomato chopped
>1/2 cup whole moong dal (green)
>1 pinch turmeric
>1/4 tsp jeera
>1/2 tsp coriander seeds
>2 tbsps oil.
>1/2 tsp chilly powder
>
>Cook dal in a vessel with water, till soft.
>
>Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions to it and stir, add jeera and
>coriander seeds to it and wait till the onions turn transclucent then
>add the tomato and mix it with onions. Do this till tomatoes become
>like a paste. Add chilly powder and stir some more. Then add turmeric.
>Add the cooked dal and salt to this mixture and add water and simmer
>on low heat.
>
>The dal was sweetish, and spicy and the sauce was very thick. not like
>tomato soup consistency which it should have been. I tried to add
>water but it became too weak flavoured, so I ended up reducing it to
>the thick sauce.
Couple of things are possible, but without being there they are SWAGs.
First, you may have cooked the onions over too high a heat and partially
caramelized them. Make sure you sweat the onions over a low heat and
only cook long enough to turn them translucent to prevent this.
Second, you may have cooked down the tomatoes too long and over too high
a heat. Again you may have caramelized them or you may have reduced the
tomatoes too much. Tomatoes do have sugar in them, reducing them too
much will emphasize the sweetness. If you used Roma tomatoes, they
tend to have more sugar in them than the globe tomatoes.
So, if you used Roma tomatoes, don't. Don't cook down the tomato and
onion mixture so much. That will reduce the amount of water you need to
add and will reduce the chance of caramelization. Remember all those
fragant smells are flavors just evaporating away. Save any juice from
the tomatoes that you can when you slice it, to add back in when you
need liquid.
Third, try roasting the cumin and coriander seeds. This will intensify
their flavor.
Last possibility, while you weren't looking, someone put sugar in the
salt cellar. 
|