Deh & Dal

Ingredients:

White Rice

Red Lentil

Water

Tomatoes

Onions

Salt

Vegetable Oil

Indian Masala (spices)

Hand full of Parsley

Tumeric powder

Masala

Prior Steps:

Chop 2 red onions and 3 tomatoes

Put the 1 and a half cup of red lentil in a container

Wash red lentil until the water comes out clear

Steps:

Put 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pressure cooker

Heat it on the stove for about 30 seconds

Put the diced onions into the oil

Put in 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric powder and 3/4 teaspoon of masala

Stir the goods.

Put in the chopped tomatoes & give it a good stir

Wait for the onions and tomatoes to be soft and mushy

Then add the 1 and a half a cup of Red lentil

Give it another stir

Add 6 cups of water.

Stir again and while you stir, add 3 teaspoons of salt.

Analysis:

Living in India for the majority of my life, I have grown accustomed to the things they eat, the way they cook and their life styles. I can remember up to 3rd grade and I remember eating rice and dal in our hostel room. Our home mother would make 15 liters worth of dal for the 40 students that live in the hostel. Dal is lentil soup in hindi. It is very popular in India. It is nutritious as well. I remember my house mother use to always tell me drinking dal would make you taller. I have always lived by these phrases of advice. 

Dal, or should I say, lentil soup, can be made out of different types of lentil. There are lentil beans, red lentil, yellow lentil, all sorts of variety. Everything in the soup is whole food, there is no processed food. A traditional dal would include, onions, tomatoes, lentil beans, salt, tumeric powder, vegetable oil and masala of your choice. You can choose to avoid masala but I wouldn’t recommended it because it would lose the generic taste. Lentil contains protein (which makes you grow, more so body development), vitamin B and dietary fibers. The best thing about lentil soup is that it doesn’t have as many calories as you would think it has when you eat it. 

For my dish, I decided to put in parsley to mix with my soup (it’s sort of my dad’s idea really.. but we have been doing that for awhile and we really like it). Parsley is basically a herb that many people use as topping or as decorations for their dish. It contains a lot of amazing vitamins such as vitamin A, C and K. These vitamins are good for 

I have realized that in United States, junk food and processed food are ubiquitous, I can find them almost every corner of the nation. Consuming processed food is much more convenient than making something out of scratch. If one was to run out of things in the refrigerator, one can just simply walk around the block and end up at McDonald restaurant or Dunkin Donuts. I think one of the main factors of obesity and the poor food system is due to lack of government care. If the government cared enough to think about the citizens before businesses, they can easily turn down these businesses, not even that, just lessening the amount of fast food restaurants in general can reduce the obesity level. More and more people would be cooking in their houses rather than being lazy and grabbing a fast food product.  Another thing is reducing the prices of organic food, with the government’s power, I’m pretty sure they can make that happen. Everyone cares for themselves or their children and they would want the best for their family but with the amount of money they carry in their pockets will limit what they can get and cannot. 

For me personally, I have banned soft drinks, fast food, any meat in general and juice from my diet after this unit. I have successfully been a vegetarian for a whole week now and I’m planning to continue to do so. After watching those clips in class, I could not bare to see the cruelty that these animals face. I think I’m good with vegetables. My mom has been vegetarian for 7 years now and she is supportive about me excluding meat out of my diet. I am not sure if I will last but I’m determined and hopefully it lasts more than a month. I love beans so that’s my source of protein, instead of meat.