Pratima Foi’s Dakkho (A slowly simmered Vegetable stew enriched with pulses and Legumes)

 

This is a recipe for the dish I took to the Mumbai Food Bloggers Terra Madre Day Potluck celebrations on Saturday night. Dakkho, is a stew of almost 40 ingredients. I have inherited this recipe from my Bua (Maternal Aunt) Pratima Parikh and it is one that is close to my heart because it has so many memories attached. My father loved this dish and whenever my Foi visited, Dakkho would be on the menu at least once. We’d got to the market to buy the vegetables, in fact I even went with dad to do that once! And then the vegetables would be piled on the large dining table and everyone would congregate around to help cut everything up or just chat over endless cups of chai supplied by our long suffering maharaj, who would then cook up a HUGE cauldron of it. We would sit down to eat bowlfuls of it. It was also ideal for Terra Madre Day because it uses all of the vegetables and leafy greens available in this season. (This recipe uses 3 pulses and legumes but I actually used handfuls of all the dals I had in my kitchen). I ate this for the next three days and even after it was over, I could have done with more. The husband made adorable mini Paos to go with it. Make it and bless my foi for keeping it alive and passing it on to me!

Serves: 8-12; Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

25 g black eyed beans
100g tur dal
100g chana dal
25 g potatoes
25 g cauliflower
25 g cabbage
25 g tindola
25 g okra
25 g peas
25 g carrot
25 g French beans
25 g chowli
25 g eggplant
25 g white gourd
25 g parval
25 g karela
25 g kankola
25 g suran
25 g sweet Potato
25 g cucumber
25 g papdi
25 g mooli
25 g turiya
25 g green tur dana
25 g rataloo
50g red amaranth leaves
50g  spinach
40g colocasia Leaves (More if small)
50g small bunch of dill
50g coriander leaves
50g mooli leaves
50 g karonda
50g green onions
75g onions
30g whole bulb garlic
15g ball of tamarind the size of a lime
lemon juice to taste
salt to taste
½ tsp each mustard seeds, cumin and anise
1 tbsp ginger paste
3-4 green chillies

1/3 cup each oil and ghee
 

Method:

In a large saucepan, heat 1/3 cup oil and 1/3 cup ghee. Add mustard, cumin, anise, onion and garlic. When the onion turns golden, add ginger paste, dal, all the vegetables and chillies; mix well and allow to come to the boil. Lower flame and simmer until everything is cooked. Stir in the tamarind and lemon juice. Serve steaming hot with rice or pav.