Dee Auntie’s Dhansak

Name: Dee Auntie’s Dhansak
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: ½ tsp black pepper; 1 small pumpkin or 3 courgettes; 1 large tbsp crushed ginger, garlic and fresh green-chilli mix (you can buy these at Indian food outlets or make your own, whizzing with a little water, 2 chillies, 8 cloves of garlic and a large lump of peeled ginger cut into small pieces); 3 tbsp tamarind paste. Buy tamarind in a block, tear off half and soak in water just boiled (the water should come ½ in. over the soaking tamarind). Leave for two hours while you get on with other stuff. Then crush the mixture with your hands and push through a sieve.; 3 finely chopped onions; Bunch coriander; 2 star anise; 2 tbsp cumin/coriander powder mixture; ½ tsp fenugreek seeds; A teacupful of the following dhals, all hulled: masoor (red), toor, moog and urd; 3 pints water; Salt to taste; 2 tbsp channa dhal; 1 400 g tin chopped tomatoes; Salt; 2 limes; 2 lb leg of lamb, chopped by the butcher into small chunks; 1 tbsp garam masala; 8 curry leaves; 12 pickling onions; 1 tsp turmeric; 5 tbsp sunflower oil; 1 small butternut squash; ½ tsp fennel seeds; 2 tbsp grated jaggery; 1 tsp red chilli powder; ½ tsp black mustard seeds; Bunch mint

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Settler's Cookbook

By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Published 2009

About

The list of ingredients is long, and the recipe appears daunting, but put aside half a day, turn on music and slowly cook this pot of myriad overlapping tastes. You and it are surely worth it. I classify the ingredients so they can be piled separately and used when needed. It is best made with meat from a leg of lamb.

Ingredients

2 lb leg of lamb, chopped by the butcher into small chunks
Salt to taste
5 tbsp sunflower oil

Main course
Gluten-free

Method

Grind together in a coffee grinder the fenugreek seeds, black mustard seeds, fennel seeds and star anise.
Now, wash the meat and boil in half the water with salt and half of the garlic, chilli and ginger paste. You want it almost cooked.
Meanwhile, rinse water through the dhals and boil in the rest of the water with salt until it has cooked to soft. You