Duncan’s Barley Dal Recipe
(You can also make Kicheree by substituting Rice for the Barley)
1. Rice Cooker
Start with a Rice
Cooker with a Steamer Insert (I use a Lotus Foods-brand Rice Cooker, $80, solid
stainless steel, purchased from the At Home Store in Fairfield, Iowa). There’s
also a Stainless Steel Rice Cooker available at the MUM Bookstore, and at
Everybody’s, for $70. The Miracle Exclusives Rice Cooker is available from
Amazon.com for $60 plus shipping. All of these are very similar; stainless
steel throughout, same warm/cook switch, same steamer tray.
2.a Recipe (based on 1 cup dry ingredients—modify all
amounts based on amount of dry ingredients)
2.b. Quantity
Makes 48 oz (approx. 4-6 servings)
2.c. Ingredients and Preparation
·
1/2 cup pearled barley (organic preferred, from Whole Foods,
$2/lb. You can use “hulled” barley, but it doesn’t plump up as nice because it
has the hull still on it.)
·
1/2 cup split mung dal (organic preferred, I get mine from
Everybody's in Fairfield, Iowa in 25-lb bags for ca. $65 plus shipping. It
lasts forever.) [Dal is a high-protein Legume like Peas or Lentils. It is very
popular in India; there are many types of Dal available; I like Mung Dal.]
·
Put the barley and dal in the cooking pan. Add water and
swirl around the water to wash the dry ingredients. Then pour the water out.
Repeat 2-3 more times or until the water is clear, not cloudy. Pour off the
clear water.)
·
Add 4 cups of pure good-tasting water to the rice cooker
pan. (If you can plan ahead, set aside the water and grains to soak overnight;
this step is not critical, but nice. It makes the cooking time shorter and is
said to reduce the gas in the dal.)
·
Add 2 tbsp oil (prefer extra virgin olive oil, or grape seed
oil, or sesame oil, or ghee (clarified butter). This oil is the secret
ingredient that helps stop your rice cooker from making a mess on the counter
and the floor when the dal/rice/barley boils and threatens to overflow.
·
2-3 tsp of Maharishi Ayurveda Vata, Pita or Kapha Churna
(seasoning). This is a spice/herb mixture with calming (vata) cooling (pita) or
stimulating (kapha) qualities. I use Vata or Pitta Churna. (Available from the
Health and Wholeness Store in Fairfield, Iowa, ca. $15 for the 8-oz. (large)
size plus shipping. (You can also buy generic Pitah, Vatah, and Kaphah spice
mixtures at Everybody's, Fairfield, IA.) (Note: Vata Churna Ingredients: Cumin,
Ginger, Fenugreek, Turmeric, Turbinado Sugar, Salt, and Asafoetida (Hing) in a
Rice-flower base; Pitta Churna Ingredients: Coriander, Fennel, Cumin, Turbinado
Sugar, Cardamom, Ginger, Turmeric, Cinnamon, and Salt. Kapha Churna
Ingredients: Ginger, Pepper,
Coriander, Turbinado Sugar, Turmeric, Salt and Cinnamon.)
·
¼ tsp of Asafoetida (aka Hing), ground fine (I get mine from
Everybody's in Fairfield, IA. This is a pungent ingredient made from a
crystallized plant sap that adds a lot of flavor with just a little bit added.)
·
1 tsp whole Cumin seeds
·
1 tsp whole Coriander seeds
·
1 tsp ground Turmeric powder
·
1 tsp whole Fennel seeds
·
1 tsp each of dried chopped Chives, dried Basil, and dried Cilantro
·
3 bay leaves
·
(optional) 1/8-1/4 tsp of Sea Salt or Real Salt, or none and
salt/pepper to taste at table). [optional; I avoid all salt in cooking]
·
(optional) 1 tsp ground ginger powder
·
(optional) 1 tsp ground fennel
·
3. Cooking
·
Plug in the Ricer Cooker. Turn on the switch for cooking on
the rice cooker (with the Lotus, flip the switch down).
·
Add the steamer insert on top of the cooking pan. Wash and
dice up your favorite vegetables.
·
Some of My Favorite Vegetables:
o
A couple of carrots, diced small (always)
o
Some stalks of celery (very good, diced small) (often)
o
½ a head of cauliflower diced small (sometimes)
o
A stalk of broccoli diced small (sometimes). All dice up the
tender part of the stem into small pieces.
o
1/4-1/2 pound of asparagus diced small (delish) (sometimes)
o
A couple of small potatoes diced small (instead of the
cauliflower/broccoli) (sometimes) (starchy, but tasty; I have them 1-2
times/wk—lots of potassium)
o
5-15 Brussels sprouts (diced smaller if large) (a nice
variation instead of broccoli) (sometimes)
o
Greens like chard or bokchoi (excellent, finely chopped).
(sometimes)
o
Green Beans diced small (sometimes)
o
etc. etc. Pick your favorites, try them out.
·
Go and meditate (or whatever).
·
45 minutes to 1½ hr. later, it's all ready. After it finishes
the main cooking cycle, it automatically switches to warm. So, no burning the
cooking pan (or your food). You can leave it to cook further for up to an hour
after the 45-minute cooking phase finishes with no bad results. Unplug the Rice
Cooker. Stir the Barley Dal, then stir in the veggies. You're now ready to eat,
or to scoop it into a wide-mouth food Thermos (I own two 24-oz. Thermos-Brand
Stainless steel wide-mouth food thermoses (I got the latest one from
Amazon.com). The Barley Dal with Veggies recipe described above fills them both
up neatly.
·
4. Notes
4.a. Note on grains
·
You can vary the grains. For instance, you can substitute
Organic Brown Basmati
Rice for the Barley. Since the dal takes 45 minutes to cook, I use a matched grain
that also takes a similar time to cook. (This is why I don’t use Quinoa or
White Basmati rice.) Wild rice is wonderful as well; it also takes about 45
minutes to cook. (I’ve tried 1/3 cup dal, 1/3 cup brown rice, and 1/3 cup wild
rice—it came out great! I’ve also tried 1/3 cup dal, 1/3 cup brown rice, and
1/3 cup barley—again, delicious!). ¼ cup wild rice, ¼ cup dal, ¼ cup pearled
barley, and ¼ cup brown rice was quite good, also.
4.b. Notes on Dal
·
You can use Split Peas or Split Lentils or other types of
Dal instead of Mung Dal. I just really like the taste of Mung Dal. The grain
provides the texture; the legume provides the soup-like quality.
4.c. Note on Dal Boiling Over
·
Dal has a tendency when cooked by itself in a rice cooker
(or in a pan on the stove for that matter) to boil over and make a mess
on your stove or countertop. Ways to prevent this: 1) Cock the lid of the rice
cooker or pot so that the dal doesn’t boil over. 2) Put 1-3 TBSP of oil into
the Dal at the start of cooking 3) Put vegetables (or whatever) in the steamer
insert above the cooking pan. This will prevent the overflow altogether. 5) Put
the Rice Cooker onto a plate or large deep-sided pie dish so that, if there is
any overflow, it ends up on the plate and not on your counter 6) Don’t cook the
Dal all by itself—the addition of Barley and/or Rice and/or Wild Rice seems to
prevent or at least reduce boil-over.
c. 2011 by
Duncan H. Brown