Korolar Daal

When my mother was a young bride, she spent many years with her in-laws at Barrackpore while Baba was away working in Ranchi. My grandparents had eight kids, Baba was the eldest and the only one with a  job. Everyone was dependent on my Baba for money and everything else. Those were hard times. Both Maa and Baba had to work very hard to make ends meet and also live apart. As a young bride, Maa was like a second mother to my uncles and young aunt. She was already a good cook and used to love making delicacies from simple ingredients. One dish she was famous for was Korolar Daal. My uncles still fondly remember Maa when they have this daal.

Korola, or Karela, is bitter groud. It is, as it's name suggests, quite bitter. But it has many healthy properties. In India, we have a tradition to start a meal with a bitter dish, often it is neem leaves and sometimes it is karela fried or boiled. Adding karela to daal just is another variation to allow us eat this nutritious vegetable.

Korolar Daal

Ingredients
1 cup Moong daal, skinless
5 slender karela
Salt
Sugar
Water
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
1/4 inch Ginger, minced
1 Tbsp Oil
2 Tsp Ghee
2 Tsp black Mustard seeds
Three Green chilies, slit

Preparation

1. Cut the karela vertically through the center and then into small semicircular bite-sized pieces. Put a bit of salt and turmeric and marinate the karela.
2. On a hot skillet, dry roast Moong daal. Keep stirring constantly such that it does not burn. You will need to roast it till the daal releases a fragrant aroma and starts turning golden.
3. Take it off the skillet and rinse the daal till water runs clear.
4. In a pressure cooker, add the daal, minced ginger, salt, turneric, and water. Water to daal ratio is 2:1. Steam the cooker for 3 whistles. Alternatively, you can just boil the daal on open flame. Using the pressure cooker saves both time and energy. And lentils get very well cooked in the pressure cooker.
5. On a separate skillet, heat the oil and fry the karela. I do not want to deep fry it, only cook till they are a bit crispy. Add the karela into the cooked daal.
6. On another skillet, melt the ghee. Add the mustard seeds and sliced green chilies. Let it splutter a bit. This is called Phoron.
7. Add the hot phoron into the cooked daal. Add some more water . Add some sugar to taste.
8. Let the daal boil for few minutes to cook the karela and get the consistency you like.

This daal goes very well with white rice and should be taken as an initial course during the meal.
I LOVE karela, so much so that I am ready to eat it raw. In contrast, my hubby hates it and will not go near one. It looks like a green rat to him and that gives me the giggles!

I pick slender karela when I go shopping for them. The stout and fat ones have large seeds in them. The seeds are quite hard at times and the 'meat' in the vegetable becomes soft and tasteless. Now here's a little 'discovery' my sister and I made when we were young - after you have a bitter vegetable, be it karela or a neem leaf, try taking a sip of cold water - it will taste sweet!