Pepe diye Bhaja Moong Daal | Lentil with Raw Papaya

 

15 September

Raw papayas are considered very good for the stomach. When ever you need a happy bowel, a Bengali mother would always recommend you to have boiled raw papaya or what we call as seddho pepe. Full raw or partially ripened, seddho pepe always tastes awesome to me. There are many yummy vegetarian preparations in the Begali cuisine with Raw papaya and most of the times its cooked a little sweet apart from the time it is added to the daal. Cooking daal with vegetables is a common culture in Bengal. Usually Moong Daal pairs well with all sorts of vegetables and most of the time sobji diye moong er daal  (Daal with vegetables) is prepared on special occasions with seasonal produce. But pepe diye Moong daal ( Moong daal with raw papaya) is prepared like a everyday daal in a Bengali household. 

It is a simple hearty daal recipe, especially preferred during the summer months at my home. My mom used to find innovative ways to feed me vegetables when I was small, putting all the unattractive vegetables in daal was an easy way out for her.  As a result right from childhood I grew up loving this  preparation. This daal preparation doesn't have any bells and whistles but this makes up for a hearty meal when you pair it with any vegetable and steamed rice. 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes 

Serves - 4 adults

Ingredients :

• Moong Daal - 200 gm
• Whole Jeera - 1 tsp
• Raw Papaya - 1 cup, cubed
• Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp
• Dry Red Chilli - 2
• Turmeric Powder - as needed
• Bay Leaf - 1
• Salt as per taste 
• Ghee - 1/2 tsp
• Refined Oil/ Cooking Oil

Equipment:

• Pressure Cooker
• Kadai

Method

1. Dry roast on medium heat the unwashed Moong Daal in a wok till they are light brown and fragrant. You have to constantly keep stirring it so that they don't burn.

Tip: Roasting the daal perfectly is the key to a good bhaja moong er daal. The roasting decides how fragrant the daal will be. So be patient while you are roasting the daal and keep stirring,

2. Now wash the daal under running water to clean off any impurities and dirt. Transfer the roasted daal to a bowl and add about two cups of warm water. Cover and let the Daal soak for about 30 minutes to 1 hours, the more the better

Tip: Soaking the daal, reduces the cooking time.

3. Cut the Papaya into cubes. 

4. There are two ways to cook the papaya - either you boil it with the daal or you can shallow fry the papaya cubes in a kadai for about 1 minute and then add 1 cup of water and boil them separately in a pressure cooker. 

Note: The papaya I used had started to ripen, so I followed 2nd option. If you have a completely raw papaya, you can follow the 1st option as well.

5. Pressure cook the daal for 2 whistles or as required. Note that the daal should be cooked but not a mush. With a ladle give a couple of stir to mix the daal in the cooker after opening the lid.

6. Now put the pressure cooker with the boiled daal on medium flame and add salt and turmeric. Let it come to a boil and switch off the flame.

Note: If you have boiled the papaya with the daal, before this step take out the papaya cubes and keep aside, else they might get over cooked and mushy.

7. In a kadai, heat refined oil and ghee. When hot temper it with bay leaves, dry red chili and whole Jeera. 

Note: This recipe is made with white oil (refined oil) an ghee and not mustard oil which is commonly used in Bengali recipes.

8.When the spices are fragrant, add the ginger paste and sauté it keeping the flame on medium till the raw smell is gone. 

9. Now add the boiled papaya and the boiled daal. Let it simmer for about 4-5 minutes with lid on. Top it off with a dollop of ghee.

Serve it with steamed rice and vegetable of your choice.