Today i had promised myself that i won’t go ahead with my ramblings, so all the regular visitors of my Virtual Kitchen, can simply heave a sigh of relief ! But hold on……..promises are meant to be broken isn’t it? LOL….
Well , i wont budge without talking about the Earth Hour, that was observed on 28th March,all around the globe.The question is did we participated and put off the lights for an hour? Nopes…the reason is we already did that for 6 hours during the day,and do so religiously everyday,Thanks to the daily “loadshedding”. But the earth hour did made me sit and think about,how wonderful it would be, if all the residential areas(and not industrial ones) in Maharashtra at least, switched off the lights for an hour daily,then obviously we wont have to suffer the daily torture of six-hours-no-electricity…….Any one listening???

Now coming to Dal puri ,which is one of the most common breakfast amongst Sindhis.Now all those health conscious people, before you frown upon me, let me assure you that the deep fried puris can be replaced with plain roti, koki, even bread ,but then few combinations are made in heaven.And Dal puri is one such awesome combination.
Long long ago…when we were kids,a neighbouring food thela was very popular place for all the morning persons to meet and chat ,while they waited for the aged ,frail,soft spoken UNCLE, to assemble the Dal ,dal moong,dal bread,etc, on the fresh,green leaves(Don’t remember whether they were betel leaves). The real dense,creamy plain dal(yellow split moong dal) flavored with just salt,turmeric and black pepper powder , used to be a staple breakfast for many of kids around,since it was non spicy,and for elders the dalmoong (Recipe coming soon) , flavored with garam masala, some Imli chutney, and chopped boiled veggies was most loved breakfast with either Rotis or Koki

The memories of a toddler, studying in Balmandir(Play  school) ,when that  kid used to wait for Recess time so that mother would send that creamy dal on leaf,with some koki or puri wrapped in a handkerchief (During those times, no aluminum foils or fancy tissue wrappers were available)still lingers around me . Got the connection?? No?? Huh ,who would wait for a recess in two hour session of school, but a foodie like…yours Truly

For Puri:

Ingredients:

• Wheatflour 1 cup
• Salt as per taste
• Black pepper powder 1/4 tspn
• Cumin seeds 1 tspn
• Oil for frying

Method:

• Mix wheat flour ,salt,black pepper powder,cumin seeds and knead a dough
• The dough should not be too hard or too soft.Let it rest for a while.Then knead it little further to make the dough smooth and workable
• Take a very small portion of this dough and roll it into small chapati.
• Gently and carefully slide this  puri  in frying pan,and the oil should be hot
• Slightly keep on pressing the sides of puri  so that it puffs up(That’s Fun!)
• Toss it and cook it on slow flame for just about 3-4 seconds or till the surface appears light brown

For Dal:

• Yellow split Moong dal(peeli dal) 1 cup
• Salt as per taste
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tspn
• Black pepper powder to garnish

Method:

• Pick, wash and soak moong dal for 15 minutes
• Boil it in a pressure cooker with some salt,water and turmeric powder,untill two whistles of cooker.
• It can be cooked in a pan or Handi too, the cooking time will be anywhere around 15-25 minutes depending upon the quality of dal and soaking time.
• Whisk it with the hand whisker and  adjust the consistency of dal. It should be thick creamy
• Garnish it with black pepper powder.Optionally one can add the tempering of red chilly powder+garam masala powder+coriander powder, 1/4 tsp of each,before serving
• This dal has a tendency of thickening,  soon after it is made, so add little hot water and boil, every time you serve it

Divya of Dil Se... is hosting this month’s edition of Think Spice initially started by dear Sunita.The theme being Pepper, this pepper flavored Dal and Puri goes for her event,just on time