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For Ben’s birthday, I decided to make him a special meal of the Indian food of his choice.  Armed with a few cookbooks from the library, he chose what he liked.  These were the undeniable hits of the evening.  I’ve adapted the recipes to reflect how I cooked them and any specific problems I had with the recipe have been addressed.

Pumpkin Dahl

1/3 c. torn basil leaves (1 package of fresh basil should be more than sufficient)
1 star anise
1 cup dried yellow dahl (split peas)
pinch turmeric
3 bay leaves
1 small chopped onion
water, as directed
1 peeled and chopped pumpkin (butternut squash)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons unchrushed salt
2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter (I used the spreadable butter that has oil mixed in)
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ginger
3 serrano chilis, cut into matchsticks (you can use other peppers as you like)

Shred the basil and set aside.  In a stockpot, combine split peas, 2 cups water, turmeric, bay leaves, onion, and star anise; bring to a boil and cook partially covered for twenty minutes.  Add the pumpkin pieces, 1 cup water, sugar and salt.  Return to boil; cook for another twenty minutes, or until the pumpkin is at your desired consistency (I left mine somewhere between mush and soft chunks; note that this did required the addition of more water during this second cooking time).  Remove from heat.  In a small frying pan over high heat, heat the oil and butter together.  When hot, add cumin seeds; when the cumin seeds are dark brown, add the ginger and hot pepper.  Reduce to low heat and continue cooking for half a minute; and the basil and cook for another thirty seconds.  This mixture is poured over the pumpkin dahl and gently spread into the mixture (you needn’t and shouldn’t mix thoroughly!).  This will make a lot; it fed Ben and I once and me two more times.  It’s good with both rice and flatbread.

Chapati

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt as desired
2/3 cup warm-to-hot water

Combine the flour, oil, and salt and rub together.  Add the water, mixing to form a mass.  Knead for 10 minutes, cover, and let rest 30 minutes.  Knead a few more times, then divide evenly into two portions.  Roll each portion into a cylinder and cut each cylinder into eight pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and then roll out flat on a floured surface (do not stack the rolled dough; it’s best if you have one person roll and have the tawa already hot and manned with a second person).  Heat the tawa (you could also use a frying pan) very hot, and turn on a second burner to high flame or, for an electric stove, place a cooling rack on top of a burner on high.  One at a time, cook the flat circles of bread, starting on the tawa (both sides, until brown spots begin to appear) and then moving it to the second burner/cooling rack (both sides), where the bread should temporarily puff up and darken a little more.  I used the cooling rack method to a degree of success I had not expected.  This is supposed to feed about four people, but Ben and I demolished the whole stack in one sitting, so plan to make a lot if you have company that likes to eat with their hands!