Fire roasted garlic and onion in lentil & cabbage broth

By vidhyu

The title sounds sooooooooooooo yummy! Doesn’t it? Actually this dish is indeed very tasty. It’s a cold Saturday, December morning when you feel like having one of those yummy hot stew kinda dish that will warm up your tummy and soul.

This is an age old dish called Kadan in Maharashtra which is also very similar to the bassaru in  Karnataka. The twist is in the fire roasting of the garlic & the onion. This process caramelize the sugars in the garlic & onion and it lends such a wonderful smoked taste it is just awesome.

Here is how you can make it:

Ingredients:

Onion (large) – 1 fire roasted
Onion (large) – finely chopped
Garlic -1 whole fire roasted
Cabbage – 1 chopped or grated
Tomato – 1 large
Ginger – 1 tsp chopped fine
Green chillies – 6 – 8 slit
Coriander – 1 small bunch finely chopped
Grated coconut or desiccated coconut – 2 tsps
Thuvar Dal (yellow lentil) – 1 cup
Jeera (cumin) – 2 tsps
Pepper – 1 tsp
Sambhar powder – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For Grinding:

Cooked dal
1 fire roasted onion
1 whole fire roasted garlic
Tomato
Ginger
Half of the chopped coriander
Jeera
Pepper
Sambhar powder

For Seasoning:

Oil – 2tsps
Mustard seeds – 2tsps
Urud dal – 2 tsps
Red chillies – 5-6
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Method:

  1. Fire roast the whole garlic and the onion. If you have an electric stove, you can bake them in the oven. Once roasted, remove the skin. You could just squeeze out the pulp.
  2. In a large pan wash the dal and cook it in 4 cups of water. When it is half boiled add the chopped cabbage. Add some more water if required. Shut off the heat when the cabbage is fully cooked but still crunchy.
  3. The cabbage will be afloat on top of the pan. Remove the cabbage. It’s ok if you get a little bit of dal along with the cabbage.
  4. Strain the remaining dal and set the water in a stock pot.
  5. Grind all the ingredients listed under “For grinding”. Pour the ground mixture into the stock pot and mix it well. Season this by heating 1 tsp of oil and mustard, 3 red chilies and curry leaves.
  6. Add salt and let it boil for 7- 10 mins.
  7. In another pan, add 1 tsp of oil and add 1 tsp of mustard seeds, urad dal, 3 red chillies, and a sprig of curry leaves. Add the cabbage, green chilies, salt and mix it all together. Let it cook for 3 – 5 mins. Add the grated coconut and sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy the Kadan and the cabbage curry with hot rice. Do leave a comment after you try this recipe.

Leave a comment