Dhansak
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| Type | Rice & Curry |
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| Place of origin | India |
| Main ingredients | Lentils, vegetables, spices, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, meat (mutton, goat meat), either gourd or pumpkin |
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Dhansak is a popular Indian dish, originating among the Parsi Zoroastrian community. It combines elements of Persian and Gujarati cuisine. Dhansak is made by cooking mutton or goat meat with a mixture of lentils and vegetables. This is served with caramelised brown rice, which is rice cooked in caramel water to give it a typical taste and colour. The dal cooked with mutton and vegetables served with brown rice, altogether is called dhansak.
The technique of extending a relatively expensive ingredient (meat) by combining it with vegetables and/or lentils in the same recipe is widely employed in Persian cooking ("Dhan" is Persian/Urdu for "seed"- referring to grains or legumes; "Sak" (or the derived Hindi/Urdu term "Saag")=vegetable greens.) The Gujarati element of the recipe is the liberal use of a variety of Indian spices and condiments, in contrast to the more mellow Iranian recipes.
In Parsi homes, dhansak is traditionally made on Sundays owing to the long preparation time required to cook the lentils and vegetables into a mush, (in the days before pressure cooking was employed).
Dhansak is also always had on the fourth day after the death of a near one. There is no meat consumed for three days after the death of a near one. And dhansak is used to break this abstinence on the fourth day. Dhansak hence, is never prepared on auspicious occasions like festivals and weddings.
Dhansak is made by cooking mutton cubes with a mixture of various lentils and vegetables. Traditionally, four lentils (arhar dal, Bengal gram or chana dal, red masoor dal and brown masoor dal)are used, but one or more of the lentils may be omitted or substituted. The vegetables include potato, tomato, brinjal, pumpkin and fenugreek leaves: again, substitutions, such as squash for pumpkin, and sweet potato for potato, may be employed: it depends on what vegetables are conveniently at hand. After prolonged cooking in the traditional recipe (or the use of a pressure cooker), the vegetables are more or less homogenized with the lentils, which are also broken down, so that the result is a thick stew rather than a curry.
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Wikipedia