East Indian
Dalma (Odia Toor Dal with Mixed Vegetables)
Dalma (Odia Toor Dal with Mixed Vegetables) is East 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 (split pigeon peas)
- 5 cups water
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 cup pumpkin, cubed
- 1 potato, cubed
- 1 raw banana (plantain), cubed
- 1/2 cup eggplant, cubed
- 2 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 tsp panch phoron (five-spice blend)
- 2 dried red chilies
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
- 1.25 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Rinse the toor dal and combine it with the water, turmeric, and half the salt in a heavy pot.
- Add the pumpkin, potato, raw banana, and eggplant, bring to a boil, then simmer until the dal and vegetables are completely soft, about 30 minutes, mashing lightly with a ladle.
- Heat the mustard oil in a small pan until it just smokes, let it cool slightly, then add the panch phoron, dried red chilies, and bay leaf and temper until fragrant.
- Pour the sizzling tempering into the dalma along with the remaining salt and simmer 5 minutes more so the flavors settle.
- Sprinkle with the roasted cumin powder and serve hot with rice, the way it's eaten in Odisha nearly every day.
Serve it with
A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Dalma (Odia Toor Dal with Mixed Vegetables), 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
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Dalma (Odia Toor Dal with Mixed Vegetables) 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
- Moderate
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Pulses and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Dalma (Odia Toor Dal with Mixed Vegetables) takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. 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 pigeon pea, pumpkin, and potato.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from East 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.