It’s amazing how the very first thing people ask a Parsi is, “Where will I get some great Dhansak?” Well, there is a story with Dhansak, or maybe there are many, just like it’s made slightly different in every household. The origins of Dhansak lead back to Iran, where a very commonly eaten “Khoresh” which means “stew” was consumed.
Before it was christened the Dhansak of today, it used to be a mutton stew cooked with spinach and plums, served with rice and mokhalafat — Iranian accompaniments.
When the Zarathusthi’s disciples travelled from Iran, so did their tastebuds. And when they landed in Gujarat and used local produce from which the “Now famous — Dhansak” was born. “Dhan” meaning golden/gold or wealth and “Sak” meaning sag/vegetables.
There are very few taboos that exist in the Zoroastrian community. It is said that with fasting and staying hungry, a man wouldn’t even be able to concentrate on his prayers.
Therefore, there are no hard and fast rules about fasting in the religion, except not eating meat for four days after a member of the family passes away.
The Parsis believe breaking that fast with the most popular and world famous dish Parsi cuisine has given, “Dhansak”, is ideal. It is a dish which is had during mourning, as it’s believed that after eating some Dhansak, the person feels much better, happier, and more fulfilled and healed as it’s pure comfort food.
This popular meat stew has an elaborate and complex procedure. In the olden days, it used to be made in my grandmother’s house in an “Icmic” cooker.
A cooker, which is a travelling cooker, and had three compartments and coal at the bottom. Here, the mutton, dal and rice used to cook slowly as it used to be put on at breakfast time, and would be ready by lunchtime.
Dhansak has multiple ingredients; it might frazzle you a bit when you see the recipe for the first time as there are close to 20-25 ingredients, but don’t let it scare you.
The end product is a nice, thick and spicy dal with mutton and brown rice. This is always eaten with kababs ie. small round fried kebabs which can be chicken, mutton or sometimes even prawn and loads of kachumbar which is a salad of finely chopped onion, tomato, chilli, coriander and lemon juice.
Together, it is a lovely comfy spread usually had on Sundays and washing it down with a few mugs of beer leads to a nice snooze in the afternoon, which makes it an even better day! So go find a nice place serving Dhansak, it could be your Parsi friend’s home, or their Mumma who will make it best.
The writer is the chef at SodaBottleOpenerWala.
A proper Bawi who looks the part, Anahita learnt cooking from her mom, who is an excellent Parsi cook and caterer. She grew up with good food and has access to some incredible family recipes — some, more than 200-years-old.
Classic Mutton Dhansak –
(A family heirloom)
Ingredients
For the mutton: 500 gm “pichla raan/back leg”, onion 6, salt to taste, cinnamon stick 2, black cardamom 1, water
For the Dal: Arhar or Toor dal 100 gm, channa dal 50 gm, Masoor dal 50 gm, onion 40 gm (1 large), potato 1 large, tomato 2, brinjal 40 gm (skin off), pumpkin 40 gm (skin off), coriander leaves with stem 5 gm, mint leaves 4 gm, garlic pods 5, ginger same size as garlic, curry leaves 2 gm, fenugreek leaves 2 gm, sambhar masala 1 tsp, Dhansak masala 2 tsp, red chilli powder 1/2 tsp, haldi powder 1/4 tsp, salt to taste
For the caramelised rice: Sugar 50 gm, long-grained rice 500 gm, onions 2, cardamoms 3 pieces, cloves 3, peppercorn 10, caraway seeds 1/2 tsp, bay leaf 3, cinnamon sticks 1-2, cumin seeds 1 tsp, salt 2 tsp, desi ghee 3 tbsp
For the Kachumbar: Onion 4, tomato 4, cucumber 4, salt and pepper to taste, lemon juice 6 tbsp, green chilli 4, coriander leaves ¼ bunch.
Method
For the Mutton: In a heavy bottom pan, add oil or ghee, add whole masalas and onions. Brown well; add mutton pieces and bhuno. Once well-coated and brown, add water and let mutton cook on a slow flame. Once ready, remove mutton and keep aside. Strain stock and use it to cook the dal.
For the Dal: In a large handi, add all the ingredients for the dal and the stock from the mutton and bring to a boil. Keep cooking till it’s done, all the pulses and vegetables are cooked. Once off the flame, cool slightly and process through a blender.
For the Rice: Caramelise sugar by heating it. Add quarter cup water and mix well. Wash rice twice and set aside. Chop onion finely and fry in three dessert spoons of ghee till brown. Add cumin, spices and caramelised water. When a nice aroma is emitted, put in the washed rice and salt. Add water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cover till done. Once ready, open rice out with a fork and garnish with fried onions. Serve with kababs around a rice dish.
For the Kachumbar: Finely chop onion, tomatoes, cucumber, green chillies and coriander leaves. Put in a bowl and add salt, pepper and lemon juice as per taste. Serve chilled.
The Parsi plating
Mix mutton pieces with the dal, check for seasoning. Let dal and mutton boil a couple of minutes (10-15) till they come together, beautifully.
Fluff rice, arrange kababs and garnish with fried onions.
Place the chilled bowl of kachumbar.
Put the dal at the centre of the table, with a big ladle.
Lastly, get some chilled bottles of beer to wash it all down. Cheers!
The right way
Do not stir rice, as you want the grains to be intact.
Best results will be obtained if cooked in a rice cooker.
For the best cut of meat, buy the pichla raan and get it cut by your butcher.
Traditionally, the dal is cooked over coal, to get that lovely smoky after-taste. However, nowadays to quicken the procedure, pressure cookers are used.
A food mill is traditionally used to puree the dal.
The dal is made one day in advance and tastes even better the next day.
The medium to cook in used to always be ghee, but now the health-conscious Parsi (if you’ve ever heard of that) is using refined oil. But the flavour is always better if mutton is cooked in ghee.
