Alan Davidson

Dhansak

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

dhansak a well-known example of parsi food in Gujarat, India; dhaan meaning rice and sak meaning vegetables. Dhansak is a meat, vegetable, and lentil curry served with brown pilaf rice. The Parsis use a mix of dals but always include moong dal (see mung bean) in this dish. A specific spice mixture, dhansak masala, is prepared just for this dish.

When the Parsis settled on the western coast of India, they adopted Gujarati as their language and absorbed local influences into their cuisine, but maintained many of their own culinary traditions, including the use of mung beans, of which this dish is the most famous example.