A GSB Konkani feast or dinner or lunch is incomplete without dhali thoy. It is made with thoor dhal. But other dhal like moong dhal, channa dhal can also be used in the preparation of thoy. But if you say dhali thoy it means thoor dhal and not any other dhal. It is easy to prepare and just cooking and seasoning of thoor dal gives you tasty dhali thoy. Of course it does not include any onions and garlic it it. It is not a spicy dish and can be consumed by people who often get gastric problems.
There are sight variations in the preparation of dhali thoy but the main ingredient the thoor dhal never changes.
Ingredients
You need
- ½ cup of thoor dhal (Lentil)
- Salt as per taste
Seasoning
You need
- ½ tspn Mustard seeds
- ½ tspn Jeera
- 6 no’s Green chilies
- 3 no’s Red chilies
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
- Coconut oil as required for seasoning
Method
Wash and pressure cook the dhal adding sufficient quantity of water. (The pressure cooking time I follow is as follows: after one whistle simmer the flame to low and keep for 3-5 min. Then switch off the flame).
Once the dhal is cooked transfer the contents to a vessel. Add sufficient salt. If required add water. The dhali thoy should be thicker than the soup consistency. Keep for boiling.
Once boiled do the seasoning as follows. In a kadai heat coconut oil. Add mustard seeds when they splutter add jeera, green chilies. Sauté the green chilies so that the raw smell goes off. Then add red chilies followed by curry leaves. Add the seasoning to the thoy.
Serve hot with rice.
As I have mentioned there are variation in the preparation of dhali thoy. They are as follows
Variation 1
Need not pressure cook the dhal. Add the washed dhal to one liter of boiling water. Cook till soft. Now add slit green chilies and a few curry leaves. Remove from flame when done. Season with mustard seeds, red chilies and curry leaves. If required you can add a pinch of asafetida also.
Variation 2
Pressure cook the dhal adding green chilies to it. Then while seasoning add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves, red chilies and in the end add turmeric powder and pour the seasoning into the dhali thoy.
Variation 3
Adding pepper corns to seasoning
Pressure cook dhal adding slit green chilies to it. While seasoning add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves, turmeric powder and crushed pepper corns. Pour the seasoning into the dhali thoy.
Variation 4
Adding red chilies alone
To the pressure cooked dhal add cut red chilies (5 no’s) and boil it adding salt for 3 to 5 min. Season it with mustard and curry leaves.
Tips
If you do not want to overcook the dhal add less water while cooking. The dhal remains as such but is cooked.
While pressure cooking the dhal add a little coconut oil to the dhal so that it does not come out from the pressure cooker while pressure cooking.
Even though there are four variations in the preparation of dhali thoy. The taste of each variant is different from the other.
