Bele Saaru -Tempered Broth of Pigeon Peas and Tomatoes
One of the simplest and most gratifying sensations is the way you feel when you have a morsel of a modest combination of rice and bele saaru. Among the dals / lentils, pigeon peas is the most consumed in Kannada cooking. ‘Toor Dal’ or ‘tuvar dal’ in Hindi and ‘Togari bele’ in Kannada is a beautiful lentil which is a complete meal in itself when cooked and eaten with a little ghee, salt, lemon juice and rice. In fact, that’s a part of a child’s diet in our community until they are old enough to consume and digest complex foods.
When someone offers you ‘Dal-Chawal’ (lentils and rice), they’re making you an “offer you can’t refuse”. :) The Godfather reference aside, this divine combination has literally erased the class-divide in India. It is eaten by everyone and I can’t emphasize enough on the inclusiveness of the word - everyone.
Ajji’s saaru - A lost recipe
I have warm, loving memories associated with food and this recipe in particular. My grandmother, a devout Brahmin woman, for whom daily rituals came ahead of her own hunger, used to make a broth that was fit for the Gods. No, really! She was an extraordinary cook with years of experience handling tricky ingredients in smoke-filled, ill-planned kitchens. Her day started and ended in front of an earthen stove and she’d be cooking and feeding at least 8 people on any given day. She was tough and knew how to stretch a recipe. Her bele-saaru, was a watery concoction, diluted enough to cover the mounds of rice on everyone’s plates. Yet, it was delicious. We have spent many a summer day on her saaru-anna alone (lentil broth and rice).
I have not been able to recreate that taste in all my years of cooking. None of my family members have. I have known my grandmother only through the food she used to make. She was never the affectionate kind. She’d keep us at arm’s distance and mind her own business - which was mostly cooking and offering prayers. She would discipline us to sit properly (cross-legged on the floor) and eat using our right hand only. I didn’t mind the impositions but I really wish she had shared the recipe with someone - a sister, an aunt, any one. She never did! She took it to the grave with her, that sand bag! (rolling eyes)
I can’t forget the taste of my grandmother’s bele saaru. But I have tried doing justice to bele-saaru, in general. I urge you to try this recipe for the sake of good old-fashioned family cooking. Feed that hungry, craving, monster with ladles full of wholesome tempered pigeon peas and tomatoes. Drown your rice in bele-saaru and tuppa (ghee / clarified butter). You deserve this pampering!
“Anna daata sukhi bhava!”
So go ahead, repeat, relish and leave me your feedback. – The Happy Brahmin