Daal Pitthi

Daal Pitthi is an excellent food variety prepared in Mithila. It is good for consumption during any time of the day as any meal practice (breakfast, Lunch or Dinner). This again resembles with one of the continental dishes called “Pasta” and could be tried out with lots of variation of sauces served with it. The only difference of it with Pastas is that , that pastas are made out of refined flour and cooked separately (or dried) from its sauce, while Pitthis are made out of Whole meal flour (Aatta) and coked along with its sauce which is prepared from good quality (preferably roasted) Arhar Daal. Ofcourse being an Indian preparation it differs in the addition of spices and flavourings too, but the same Pitthis could be tried out with other pasta sauces like Carbonara (a white pasta sauce flavoured with Bacon) or Nepolotana (a tomato and basil based sauce flavoured with Oregano/ Marjoram) etc.

Alike Italian pastas Pitthis are given different shapes and sizes like Macroni, Fussili, Canneloni etc. but they are best for fresh consumption and could not be sun dried (as the color will change to dark , giving a very poor appearance to the dish)

So here is the basic recipe of preparing Daal Pitthi and some of the variation of it.

Ingredients:

Whole Meal Flour (Aatta): 100 gms
Arhar Daal: 75 gms
Mustard oil: 10 ml
Cumin seed: 2 pinches
Asafetida (Heeng) : 1-2 gms
Salt and Turmuric : As required
Chopped coriander leaves: for garnish

Preparation:

• Make a semi soft dough of Aatta. Flatten the chunk of it to paper thin using a rolling pin and cut it in fancy shapes.


• Roast daal in a kadhai for 3-4 minutes.


• Chop coriander leaves.

Cooking:

• Parboil daal or pressure cook it with salt and turmeric. Now add the fancy shapes of pitthis to it and cook the the mixture over moderate heat for 8-10 minutes.


• When the sauce gets a creamy smooth texture reduce the flame and add the tempering of Cumin seed and heeng.


• Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaf.

Stuffing of Pitthis: Pitthis can be stuffed with anything and everything edible. one can try out the filling of both the kinds ,Veg and Non - veg. which will enhance the taste and nutritional value of the dish. I have used the stuffing of Mashed Cheese in the above picture which can be replaced with any non-veg mixture also.

Tadka Daal Pitthi:

Prepare the basic Dall Pitthi sauce with above ingredients and add athe tempering of Chopped onion, garlic, green peas, slit green chilies and tomatoes.