HYDERABAD : Sindhi cuisine has quite a few vegetarian delicacies such as kadhi chawal, sai bhaji, koki, and bhee. But one of the most popular dishes among Sindhis is surely Dal Pakwaan, a preparation where yellow dal is savoured along with a deep-fried crispy flatbread, along with some delicious chutneys and chopped onions. Dal Pakwaan is preferred mostly as a breakfast dish, especially in the weekends. The lentil used is Bengal gram, and the spices are kept at a minimum to cook the dish.
To make pakwaan, wheat flour kneaded into a firm dough with oil and a dash of ajwain. This is then used to roll out thin flatbreads. Small perforations are made on this bread so that it does not puff up like a puri while deep frying in oil. Care has to be taken that the pakwaan is fried till it is golden brown. Soaked chana dal is cooked with a seasoning of cumin seed, a little asafoetida, ginger paste and chilli powder. Finally, the dal is served garnished with chopped onions and coriander leaves.
A dash of amchur and garam masala powder can also be added for taste. Usually, two kinds of chutneys are served with the combo dish, a sweet tamarind chutney and a green coriander chutney. In fact, the chutneys are added to the dal before eating, and crisp pakwaan pieces are dunked into it to enjoy a satisfying Sindhi breakfast.
A few weeks back in this column I had talked about the area around Prenderghast Road in Secunderabad. Known as Sindhi Colony due to a sizeable Sindhi population, the area serves some of the best vegetarian street food in the city in the evening. However, if you land up here on a Sunday morning, you will notice a small kiosk named “Ganga Sagar Dal Pakwan” in front of Amar Apartments.
This street food kiosk only offers dal pakwaan, and has been set up a couple of years ago by Mohan Tolani, a Sindhi residing in Hyderabad for the past 15 years. The dal and the pakwaan are all made at his home, in fact, the pakwaan is made the previous evening and the excess oil is drained out. The crisp pakwaan is served with the chana dal added over it. Apart from some coriander and tamarind chutney, Mohan further adds a chilli chutney on top keeping the local palate in mind.
Chopped onions and some amchur powder completes the dish. A plate with two pieces of pakwaan along with dal and chutneys costs `60.Mohan says that it gives him immense pleasure to be able to offer this dish to the Hyderabadi customers. He says that some of his customers travel from as far as Manikonda for their Sunday breakfast. If you wish to try this regional delicacy land up here on any Sunday between 9 and 11 in the morning.
Sabyasachi is a food enthusiast and blogs at www.foodaholix.in