West Indian
Varan (Plain Toor Dal)
Varan (Plain Toor Dal) is West Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre, the protein alongside, and the soup. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Rinse the toor dal and pressure cook it with the water and turmeric until soft and falling apart, about 4 whistles.
- Mash the cooked dal lightly with a ladle until smooth but still a little rustic, adding hot water if it's too thick.
- Heat the oil in a small pan, let the cumin seeds sizzle and pop, then pour the tempering over the dal.
- Season with salt, bring back to a simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, and serve hot.
- Ladle over steamed rice, and if you like, finish with an optional spoon of ghee, the everyday way it's eaten in a Maharashtrian home.
Serve it with
A West Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Varan (Plain Toor Dal), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Varan (Plain Toor Dal) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Light
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Pulses
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Varan (Plain Toor Dal) takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on toor dal.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from West India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.