Odisha previously known as Orissa, is a state in Eastern India. Bhubaneshwar is its capital. Bhubaneshwar has hundreds of temples so Odisha is also known as The Land of God or the land of Lord Jaganath. It has some of the finest architectures and arts. There are many rivers, one of them called Ganga of Odisha, although Ganga does not flow through the state.
Odissi is an ancient traditional Indian classical dance that originated from the temples of Odisha. The dance expresses religious stories and spiritual ideas.
Odisha is surrounded by Jharkhand the north, West Bengal in the north-east, the coastal line of Bay of Bengal in east-south, Andhra Pradesh in the Southand Chhattisgarh in the west.
Food:
Staple food of Odisha is rice, dal and fish. Fresh water fish and sea food are popular.
Their favourite and traditional dal is Dalma. Dalma means ‘dal with vegetables.’ A variety of vegetables like pumpkin, raw banana and brinjal are used. More the vegetable, tastier and nourishing the dal will be.
We will use the vegetable available in today’s market and make the best Dalma as possible.
Dalma
Dalma is a very popular and delicious dal. The dal we prepared is completely a vegetable dish with no onion and garlic. Normally such Dalma is prepared in the temple. For tempering very little spice and oil/ghee (clarified butter) are used. Ghee gives a wonderful flavour and aroma. We used refined oil but even than it is one of the tastiest dal I have cooked so far.
You need:
For the dal
100 gm Toor dal
50 gm Moong dal
1” pieces ginger
2 green chilies
½ tsp turmeric powder
Vegetable:
1 small slice pumpkin
1 Plantain
3 small Brinjals
4 beans
1 medium size carrot
1 medium size tomato
1 piece of gourd
1 medium size potato
1 bunch coriander leaves
Tempering:
1 tbsp refined oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp red chili powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
A few sprig of coriander leaves
Method:
- Wash and peel the ginger piece. Grate it finely.
- Wash and remove the stems from the chillies. Make a slit on the broader side of the chillies and keep them aside.
3. Wash the dal and place in a pressure cooker.
4. Add green chili, ½ tsp of salt, ¼ tsp turmeric powder and 1 tsp of grated ginger to the dal.
5. Add 1 cup of water and stir well. 6. Place the cooker on heat. After the first whistle lower the heat and cook the dal for 2 minutes and then switch off the cooker.
7. Allow the cooker to cool by itself.
8. In the meantime, wash, peel and cut the plantain and potato into cubes and soak them in water with little salt. Raw potato and plantain quickly turn brown if they are not taken care of.
9. Wash the remaining vegetables. 10. Cut the pumpkin into slightly bigger chunks with the skin on. Pumpkins gets cooked very easily. 11. We are using the smaller variety of brinjal. Cut off the stems and slit the other end slightly.
12. Cut the tomato into quarters.
13. Peel and cut the carrot crosswise into 1” chunk and then the chunks into 4 strips lengthwise.
14. Peel the gourd and chop into smaller pieces.
15. Cut the bean into 1” long strips.
16. Place all the vegetables on a plate. Add ¼ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder and mix well.
17. Open the lid of the cooker and place the vegetable over the cooked dal in the pressure cooker.
18. Close the lid and place the cooker over heat.
19. At the first whistle of the cooker, switch off the heat and allow the cooker to cool down by itself.
20. Open the cooker and stir in the dal and the vegetable very gently.
21. Add 1 cup of warm water and bring to boil.
22. Wash the coriander leaves and chop them finely.
23. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of oil/ghee.
24. Lower the heat and add 2 dried red chili and cumin seeds.
25. Switch off the heat.
26. Add ¼ tsp of turmeric and ¼ the red dried chili powder and stir and fry for few seconds.
27. Pour the spice on the dal and mix well.
28. Boil the dal for another minute or so.
30. Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and stir in well. Dalma is ready.
31. Serve it hot with steamed rice.
Happy Cooking !!
Coming up next ……………………. Dal from West Bengal.
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Dal On The Table 
Vow I liked the addition of Raw banana…must try this ..Thanks 😋
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Thank you so much Madhu. Comments always inspire……
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A very healthy daal. Will definitely try this👍
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Thank you Abha. Please try it out and let me know.
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