Recipe - East: Chili Lima Beans With Fresh Dill (Dalna

Stephen Ceideburg
One fourth cup Large dried lima beans
One half tablespoon Light vegetable oil
One fourth teaspoon Cumin seeds
One half cup Chopped onion
2 Garlic cloves, peeled,
crushed
1 Halfinch piece fresh
ginger, peeled
One half cup Peeled, chopped tomato
2 tablespoon Flaked coconut
2 tablespoon Chopped fresh cilantro
2 One half cup Water
One fourth teaspoon Cayenne pepper
One half teaspoon Paprika
One half teaspoon Salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon Chopped fresh dill

Dalnas are the ingenious creations of cooks from Orissa, in eastern India.
Traditionally, the dish is prepared with yellow mung beans, but I have
created this recipe using readily obtainable large lima beans. To round out
the menu, accompany this robust stew with rice pilaf.

Rinse lima beans. Soak in water to cover for 6 hours, or overnight. Drain
and rinse again. Set aside.

Heat oil in a small heavy skillet over mediumhigh heat. Add cumin, onion,
garlic and ginger. Stir and cook until onion starts to brown, about 4
minutes. Add tomato, coconut and cilantro, reduce heat and cook until
tomato is soft. Transfer to a blender, add One fourth cup of the water and blend
until smooth. (If necessary, add more water to facilitate blending.)

Combine beans, tomatoonion mixture and remaining water in a heavy 2 quart
saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until
beans are tender, but still hold their shape, about 1 hour. Add cayenne,
paprika and salt. Mix thoroughly. Garnish with fresh dill.

PER SERVING: 55 calories, 2 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate, 2 g fat (1 g
saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 181 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

Laxmi Hiremath writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, 6/24/92.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini