Dalmaଡାଲମା
⏱ Prep 15m🍳 Cook 35m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegan
Video: Chef Biswa (YouTube)
Dalma is the heartbeat of an Odia kitchen — a wholesome, earthy dal cooked with seasonal vegetables and finished with a fragrant panch phoron tempering. It holds a sacred place as bhog offered at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, yet it appears just as naturally on a everyday lunch plate. The dish changes with the season: raw banana and yam in winter, raw jackfruit in summer. Eat it simply with steamed rice and a drizzle of ghee.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- ▪toor dal (split pigeon peas)1 cup
- ▪raw banana, peeled and cubed1 medium
- ▪raw papaya or yam (suran), peeled and cubed1 cup
- ▪potato, peeled and cubed1 medium
- ▪tomato, chopped1 medium
- ▪turmeric powder1 tsp
- ▪grated fresh coconut3 tbsp
- ▪dry red chilies2
- For the panch phoron tempering
- ▪ghee or oil2 tbsp
- ▪panch phoron (equal mix of cumin, mustard, fenugreek, nigella, fennel seeds)1 tsp
- ▪dry red chilies2
- ▪fresh ginger, grated1 inch piece
- ▪hing (asafoetida)a pinch
- ▪saltto taste
- ▪jaggery1 tsp
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- Panch phoron is available at Indian grocery stores, or you can make your own by mixing equal parts cumin seeds, brown mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds (kalonji), and fennel seeds — store in a jar for months.
- Raw banana can be tricky to find outside South Asian stores. Use green plantain (found in Caribbean or Latin American grocery stores) as a near-perfect substitute in texture and starchiness.
- Yam (suran/elephant foot yam) can be replaced with butternut squash cubes or taro root (arbi), both widely available in Western supermarkets and farmer markets.
Method
- 1Wash the toor dal well and pressure cook it with 2.5 cups water and half the turmeric for 3–4 whistles until soft. Mash lightly and set aside.
- 2In a separate pot, combine the cubed raw banana, yam or papaya, and potato with 1.5 cups water, the remaining turmeric, and salt. Cook on medium heat until the vegetables are just tender, about 12–15 minutes.
- 3Add the cooked, mashed dal to the vegetables along with the chopped tomato and grated coconut. Stir gently to combine, adding water if needed to reach a thick, porridge-like consistency. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- 4Taste and adjust salt; add the jaggery now to balance the flavors. Simmer another 2 minutes.
- 5For the tempering, heat ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Add the panch phoron and dry red chilies and let them splutter for 30 seconds. Add the grated ginger and hing and fry for 20 seconds until fragrant.
- 6Pour the tempering over the dal and vegetable mixture. Stir gently, cover the pot for 2 minutes to let the flavors infuse, then serve hot with steamed rice.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.