I call this Jhatpat thali because the items on this thali can be prepared in a jiffy. The thali consists of dal, rice and fish fry. However simple this thali may look, dal rice and fish fry is a fantastic combination and my personal favourite. If I have fish stored in my refrigerator, and am feeling lazy to make rotis or cook anything elaborate, this is my go-to menu. So, here on this thali is steamed rice, dal tadka and surmai (seer fish) rava fry.
Recipe for dal tadka and surmai fry are given below:
Ingredients
1 cup red lentils (masoor dal)
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped (pyaaz)
1 medium sized tomato, finely chopped (tamatar)
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (lehsun)
2 green chillies, roughly chopped (hari mirch)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
salt as per taste (namak)
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (hara dhaniya)
For tempering
1 tbsp oil (tel)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (lehsun)
½ tsp asafoetida (hing)
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
½ tsp red chilly powder (laal mirch)
1 dry red chilly (sookhi laal mirch)
Method
Wash and soak the lentils in water for 30 minutes. Drain the water and transfer the lentils to a pressure cooker. Add chopped onion, chopped tomato, chopped chillies, cumin seeds, chopped garlic, turmeric powder and salt. Add 2 cups of water. Pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles. Allow the pressure to escape naturally before opening the pressure cooker. If consistency of the dal is very thick, add little and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. For tempering, heat oil in a small pan. Add cumin seeds, chopped garlic, hing, turmeric powder, dry chilly and red chilly powder. When the ingredients start spluttering, pour this tempering into the cooked dal. Serve hot.
Ingredients
6 Slices of Surmai (Seer fish)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp red chilly powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
Salt as per taste
3 tbsp rava (semolina)
1 tbsp rice flour
Oil for frying the fish
Method
Marinate fish slices with turmeric powder, red chilly powder, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice and salt. Ensure that each slice of fish is coated well with the masalas. Keep aside for 30 minutes. You can keep in the refrigerator. In a mixing bowl, combine rava (semolina) and rice flour together. Coat the marinated fish slices with rava and rice flour mixture. Heat oil in a pan. Shallow fry the fish from both sides until golden brown on medium heat. Serve hot.
Happy Cooking !!
