Urad dal used whole in thoran/rasam - how to correctly prepare?
South indian recipes often seem to call for adding dry/rinsed raw urad dal (or even bigger pulses) straight into the oil with the spices at the beginning, or adding them into a tadka that is added later .. as expected, naively following that advice often leaves some or all of them very hard/crunchy/sometimes inedible in the finished dish. Is there a soaking/parboiling method that should be used and that recipe writers tend to assume you know to employ, and/or are there rules of thumb how the dish being cooked must/must not be treated after adding the raw dal or tadka to avoid such errors?
Best Answer
I believe raw urad dal is meant to be split urad dal as mentioned by @Athanasius .
Any dal you use make sure it is split and not whole otherwise i will not temper properly.
Whole dal becomes too hard or burnt in oil.
For me the dal becomes crunchy and it is supposed to be a bit hard(not teeth breaking hard but like bits of corn seeds in pop corn).
It would never become completely soft as you are tempering it. Rather than soaking in water i would suggest roasting them in oven or low gas heat before you use it to temper if your dal stays to hard for you.
Like Daliya (Roasted chana dal) that we use in Idli chatney, gives nice crunch to your chutney. I hope this helps.
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How do you soak whole urad dal?
1: Pick the sabut urad dal (whole black gram with husks), rinse in water for 2 to 3 times. Later drain the water and soak the lentils in enough water in a bowl for about 30 to 40 minutes. The soaking time can vary depending on the quality and age of the lentils.What can be made from whole urad dal?
These husked split lentils are called as chilke wali urad dal in hindi. Even husked whole beans are available and these are used to make idli, dosa and medu vada. Urad dal has a high protein content and is also rich in some essential vitamins, minerals and fibre.How long do you need to soak urad dal?
Do you need to soak urad dal? Whole urad dal or the split urad dal needs to be soaked for at least 4 \u2013 5 hours in water. Urad dal takes a longer time to get cooked even in a pressure cooker. Hence, soaking helps in reducing the cooking time.How do you soften urad dal?
A dish might call for soaking the urad in water to soften it, or you might need to simply cook them in water directly. The water slowly re-enters the little beans and makes it easier for molecules to move around again, softening the texture.instant rasam recipe | tomato rasam without dal | how to make no dal rasam
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