On my last trip to India, I had the joy and pleasure of heading to Britannia to try a wide variety of dishes and meet Boman Kohinoor. Not only was Boman an incredible chef, but he was also an amazing person. Having a moment to speak with him I learned of his journey and I still remember him emphasizing the importance of learning the Zoroastrian dialect of Dari and maintaining the culture. At the time of the trip, I was a non-veg and thoroughly enjoyed every dish that came from his kitchen. The infusion of Persian and Indian spices made for many tasty dishes. The dish that stuck out the most for me was Dhansak. Having the dish with chicken was nice, but I was hoping to see if there is a way to make this a vegetarian dish. After searching around for a nice recipe, I decided to tweak VeganRicha’s Veggie Lentil Dhansak to make a nice Dhansak.
What you will need:
- 2.5-3 cups of water
- 1 cup of yellow split peas
- 2-3 cups of chopped butternut squash (or any veggies you like)
- 1 cup of chopped spinach, fenugreek leaves, kale leaves (if you like)
- 1 tsp of grated ginger
- 1 green chili pepper grated
- 1 tsp of grated fresh turmeric or 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1 tsp of brown sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp of oil
- 3/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp of garam masala
To speed up the soaking process, place 1 cup of yellow split peas in a bowl and add hot water. Allow the yellow split peas to soak for 15 – 30 minutes. While the split peas are soaking, coarsely chop the greens. Approximately use 1 cup; if it is more than 1 cup it is totally fine. To save a little time, I used frozen chopped butternut squash that I found at Trader Joe’s. The nice thing about this recipe is that if you would prefer to swap out the butternut squash for another veggie it will still come out amazing. Next, grate your ginger, turmeric, and chili pepper.
Now that everything is prepared, add 2.5-3 cups of water, split peas, veggies, ginger, turmeric, and chili pepper into your electric pressure cooker. Be sure to add 1 tsp of brown sugar and salt to taste. Typically, the dish would call for onions and garlic, but since I avoid both onions and garlic, neither has been added to the dish.
Set the electric pressure cooker to high and cook for 3 minutes. The trick to making this dish come out perfectly is to allow the pressure to release naturally. This will lock in the flavors and allow everything fully breaks down.
Now for the flavor and kick to the dish. Add 1 tsp of oil. Once it comes to temperature, add 3/4 tsp of mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp of cumin, and 1/2 tsp of garam masala. Depending on your personal preference, I added 1 tsp of turmeric at this stage and 1/2 tsp of grated ginger. Looking back, it was a bit more of a ginger kick and would have cut out the second round of ginger. Sauté your spices. As the flavors infuse into the oil take it off the heat and if veggies and beans are cooked add them to the mix.
Depending on how your Dhansak looks, an immersion blender may be needed to purée the curry. If you don’t have an immersion blender, then the next best thing is to pour the contents into a blender and blend everything into a nice purée. Keep in mind that since this is hot do not add too much to the blender or it may make a mess.
Depending on your preference or what is available in your kitchen, a side of rice will make this the perfect meal. Personally, I found garnishing the Dhansak with chopped coriander and a side of chapati was the perfect meal.
