My introduction to khatti daal was made at my best friend’s house. Her aayaa, who we lovingly called Amma, was from Hyderabad Deccan.

My own household hardly ever served khatti daal, and I cannot help but wonder how ethnic backgrounds play a significant role in determining our choices for daily cooking.

My research has led me to understand that the cuisine of that region has a strong lean to southern cooking. Their creative methods of cooking vegetables, lentils and beans, baisan (gram flour), coconut milk, imli (tamarind) and peanuts amongst others, blends into a flavour that is uniquely Hyderabadi.

Food Historian Lizzie Collingham, in her book titled Curry says the following about the evolution of Hyderabadi cuisine;

Southern India has a long history of outsiders bringing in culinary influences. In the area of India known as Deccan, Persian Shi’ites found employment with a Bahamanid sultan during the fourteenth century. The Bahamanid kingdom eventually broke up into a number of satellite states, one of which was Golconda, which later became known as Hyderabad.

Here, the pilaus of the Persians combined with Hindu Deccan cookery, in which shredded coconut and coconut milk are vital ingredients and the tang of curry leaves, the astringent bite of fresh fenugreek leaves, and the sharp sour note of tamarind impart flavor.

The meeting of the two styles gave rise to an elegant cuisine with unusual combinations, such as lamb cooked with beans and tamarind, [lentils and vegetables cooked with tamarind to give a tangy twist].

However, a wider history of the region suggests that the Hyderabadi cuisine as we know it today, evolved to be so in the 17th century. The Mughul Emperor Aurangzeb marched to Deccan and lay siege to the Golconda Fort in hopes of conquering the region.

The Deccanis resisted the Mughul ruler for eight long months. As the Mughul Army sat waiting, the besieged cooks inside the fort and their counterparts outside provided the gestation period for the modern day Hyderabadi cuisine.

Hyderabadi khatti daal can be made with masoor or urud, amongst other daals.

Vikram Doctor in his article published in The Economics Times has the following to say;

Lentils charred by fire, indicating some kind of cooking, have been found in cave remains in Greece dating back 11000 BC. The Eastern Mediterranean is where lentils were first planted, along with early cereals, as the first farmed crops. Ken Albala, in his history of legumes, explains that lentils were important because they need little rain and can grow on poor land, which they make better by binding nitrogen into the soil. A person can subsist mainly on this vegetable-based diet and it will support a large population in a way that gathering and hunting cannot.

K. T. Achaya, in his pioneering history of Indian food speculated that the word masoor originated in aboriginal Indian usage, but this is one case where there's another possibility: the Egyptian fame of lentils stuck to it as it travelled, so we get the name from misri, the old name for anything Egyptian.

Achaya points to a record of these daals in Sanskrit writings that might predate direct Egyptian contact, but words can be surprisingly persistent as they spread, and the name got a boost when the Muslims arrived in India and found a food they were already familiar with.

Lentils are loaded with iron and vitamin B, and some varieties of lentils are enriched in protein, in equal or greater value than meat.

When it was time for me to make khatti daal, I turned to Shazlee Auntie’s customised cookbook yet again. Unfortunately, Amma’s khatti daal recipe could not be traced, and it was not because of lack of trying.

Here it is, from my kitchen to yours.

Ingredients

1 cup masoor daal or toor daal (I used masoor or red lentils)
1 tomato
½ tsp. fresh ginger
½ tsp. fresh garlic
½ tsp. turmeric
Red chillie powder to taste
Salt to taste
¾ tsp. coriander powder
1 inch by 2 inch block of tamarind (soak in approximately 1 to 1 ½ cups hot water), let cool, rub/mix with hand to remove fiber/pulp from seeds.

Ingredients for fried garnish (bhagaar)

2 dried red chillis
2 green chillie, slit lengthwise
½ tsp. cumin seeds
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 to 4 curry leaves

Method

Wash lentils and soak in water for ½ hour. Drain, rinse and add 3 to 4 cups water.

Bring to boil adding all ingredients, except tamarind.

Let it cook, once tender, add 1 cup (or to taste) of tamarind and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, adding water for desired consistency.

Heat oil, adding garnish ingredients, temper for a few seconds and pour on dal.

Mix and serve with white rice, topping with cilantro.

—Photos by author.