A seasonal simple meal: Cranberry dhal

After seeing the fresh cranberry in my grocery store last week. I remembered my Cranberry Dhal pictures. Yes, I cooked exactly a year ago when I found those fresh cranberries. I cooked with dhal, clicked, downloaded in my hard drive and saved carefully under “unblogged” file. And forgot forever until I saw some fresh berries. This “superfruit” is only available fresh for shorter period. Traditionally associated and served for the holiday menu in form of sauce, jelly, mixed in bread, muffins, etc.. I blogged last year Spicy cranberry chutney and some medicinal value. Another way to use this fresh berries in our Indian cooking is : Dhal or make sambar (omit totally the tamarind). The dhal pairs perfectly with the sour cranberries, you have the zing without lemon or tamarind! After all we can do much more other than chutney!



  Cranberry Dhal 


Ingredients:
Dhal: ¾ cup
Fresh or frozen cranberry: 10 counts (The more u add it will be sour and tangy)
 Medium onion: 1- diced
Green chillies: 5 counts- split in half 
Red chilli powder: ½ tsp (totally optional) but recommended
Turmeric: ¼ tsp
Salt: according ur taste
 Seasonning: 
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Cumin: 1 tsp 
Hing: a pinch 
Curry leaves: few
Oil: 2 tsp 
 Garnish: 
Cilantro: 1tbsp - minced finely 

  Special ustensil: Pressure cooker

 Method: 
Cook the dhal with 2 cups of water with few drops of oil in pressure cooker. Leave at least 4 whistles and let the pressure released completely. 
Now, heat oil in pot, start with hing and next mustard seeds, once they spluttered, add the cumin, curry leaves, onion and green chillies.
 When the onion starts to be translucent add the cranberry, chilli powder, turmeric powder and cooked dhal.
 Adjust the salt and cook until the berry starts to pop, it will take just few minutes. 

  Note: always start with fewer berries and increase according your taste


  Green banana curry / Vazhakkai Podimas 










Comments

Priya Suresh said…
Cranberry dhal sounds interesting, unfortunately we wont get that much easily fresh cranberries, both curry and dhal together looks delicious..
Unknown said…
wow..this is so innovative cham..n vazhakkai ..sollvey vendam..i shud say u had aawesome meal...
Bong Mom said…
Cranberry in dal, nice idea. I think I saw it once at Mahanadi but then never tried it :( Yours looks gorgeous
prasu said…
lovely clicks dear.....yummy platter.
Dori said…
I saw fresh cranberries in the store and almost bought them, now I wish I had :)
Cilantro said…
Cranberry Dhal looks delicious. I made Cranberry chutney today and made the dhal sometime back. Love the taste of Cranberries and have used them a lot in Indian recipes.
Sonu said…
Cranberry Dhal is new to me. Loved the last pic of full meal. :)
Wow....cranberry with dhal new combo...hmmm..valakkai podimas is tempting..vettuku sapida varalama...cham:)
Nandinis food said…
Dhal looks delicious and different with cranberry as added ingred.
Unknown said…
Lovely platter, looks very interesting.
Unknown said…
yummy idea of adding cranberries in dal..must taste awesome..
Varsha Vipins said…
woah...thanks Cham..I just bought cranberries for the 1st time this season n as soon as I got home,I put one in mouth with much interest..:D..you can guess the rest..:p..I am planning to make juice out of it..but this is a revelation to me,thanks..:)
Pavani said…
Hearty, comforting meal. I love making dal with cranberries too.. For the green banana curr, do you use the Indian green bananas or plantains that we get in US grocery stores??
Cham said…
Pavani: I used the green banana from Indian store, Use the plantain which is firm/green.
my kitchen said…
Cranberry Dhal sounds good,love green banana podimas
sra said…
It looks so pretty! I have some dried cranberries with me and I was wondering if I could make a dal after reconstituing them just yesterday. Thanks for the entry, Cham!
Chitra said…
Looks delicious.Both r new to me..will try podimas for sure !!
Suparna said…
hi cham,
Cranberry dal wow ...it's an interesting one ...looks tasty dear :)
Plantain curry looks delicious, bright and beautiful click
TC
Raks said…
Using cranberry is a nice change from the usual one and ur banana curry also new to me,i havnot tried grating and doing,looks great!
Wow dal sounds very nice dear..Loved the idea of grating plantain...both the dishes look gr8
Dershana said…
That's a nice combo..cranberries in dhal!

We make vazhakka podimas a little different from ur way. the platter looks neat
Finla said…
Wow you are fast with the event, this is the second time i see someone making dal with cranberries in them.
Looks yummy.
jayasree said…
A delicious platter...Liked way you have used berries in our Indian cuisine.
wonderful click. Love that yummy dal.
Anonymous said…
cranberry dhal sounds interesting... never tried it before..
lata raja said…
I didn't know you could cook cranberries, in fact I've only had juice of these berries.Vaazhaikkai combo sounds so differently innovative.
Lavanya Raj said…
Using Grated Raw Banana is new to me cham. will try it.

Love the last pic.
Sujatha said…
this is a very nice and unique recipe, Cham! Can't wait to try this, as well as your cranberry chutney recipes..
Deepthi Shankar said…
wow, cranberry dhal sounds very innovative .. I love the curry too authentic & delicious
Preety said…
dal recipe sounds interesting..the platter looks so yummy with everything
Mandira said…
What a great idea. Never thought about this before. Lovely.
Suganya said…
Cranberry dal sound to be very unique. Nice way to use the leftover cranberries from baking. Will try it for sure. YUM! Pictures looks so appetizing.
Soma said…
Real neat idea to add cranberries to Dal! Never even thought about this before. Loved the banana recipe too. Great meal all together.
Vaishali said…
What a perfect plate, Cham. Love the idea of cranberry dal-- sounds really unusual but really delicious too!
Parita said…
Lovely idea to use cranberry in dal..awesome :-)
Malar Gandhi said…
That is really interesting Cham, cranberry dhal. Bet it tasted great. Vazhaikai podimass looks super delicious.
sandhya said…
nice idea cham...the dal must have tasted awesome...till now i only used cranberries in baking, this time i will try dal & chutney....
Yasmeen said…
Gr8 idea with Crans.,can't wait to try it this season :D
Madhuram said…
I too wanted to prepare this daal. I think I saw something like this in Indira's blog. Cilantro also has a cranberry rice recipe. Let me get it this time.
ST said…
Cranberry dhal sounds innovative and intresting...Lovely Platter:)
Namitha said…
Cranberry daal..innovative idea..Lovely platter :-)
CurryLeaf said…
Never tried cranberries in dhal.Looks great and delish.The podimas is also irresistible.Never added fennel seeds with banans thgh.I must try that
notyet100 said…
simple and delicious meal,..;-)
Unknown said…
That is an innovative recipe Cham. Bringing up the thanksgiving spirit with the cranberries!
Kalai said…
Once I tried cranberry with dhal ...it just came out perfect. Both dishes looks delicious.
Padhu Sankar said…
Lovely pics.Dal with cranberry is new to me.New comer here.
Do visit
http://padhuskitchen.blogspot.com/
Red Chillies said…
interesting idea. Most of the times I am not sure what to do with those super tangy cranberries. I loved your idea of using it as tamarind substitute in sambhar.
gtyuk said…
what a delicious spread you've got there! nice combination on that plate!
the dhal using cranberries is something I didn't know; cranberry juice is something I buy often ( my daughter needs it for an infection), it has natural medicinal composition in it; no wonder you're using it instead of tamarind and lime, it 's naturally so tangy. some people use it even for pickles! nice post dear!
Srikitchen said…
dhal looks so new!
plantain curry is so good!
Laavanya said…
I would've never thought to associate cranberry and dhal - how unique and the vazhakai podimas looks great. My mom makes with g. chillies as opposed to red chilli powder.
Seena said…
Cham, very diff. curries! cham, do you make blog headers your self? I love it! :)
Ria Mathew said…
Wow! what a lovely twist to the usual dhal!I have never tasted cranberries though :)
Uma said…
mmmm. lovely dishes. looks so yummy!!
Padhu Sankar said…
Cham thanks for visiting my blog.
different kind of dal.. heard of it before.. though not tried.

i like your blog template.. very pleasing.
Cham said…
Seena: yes, I do and Thanks everyone!
Usha said…
What a fantastic idea using cranberries in dhal, looks delicious!