Indian Soup – Dal
Around the year 1889, when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was still a law student in London, he encountered Narayan Hermchandra, a Gujarati author and critic. Gandhi, like many other students, was heavily impacted by the British way of life, embraced several British behaviors, but maintained a vegetarian diet. Although Hemchandra yearned for Dal, he was not soothed by Gandhi’s carrot soup, which he made for him once. Gandhi admits that he really enjoyed eating the Moong Dal that Hemchandra prepared. Hemchandra’s love for India could not be overshadowed by Western fantasies because he was a true patriot. Gandhi was greatly influenced by the fact that Hemchandra was once formally accused in the United States of dressing indecently and that he always wore Indian clothing no matter where he went. Additionally, this represents culinary opposition: the fact that Indian food lacks soups and that dal is essential to it reinforces the fact that it is not complete.
David Burton’s The Raj at Table: A Culinary History of the British in India demonstrates that simple rice was always served with thin sauces rather than being consumed alone. The thali style of eating, in which all the food items are arranged in little bowls on a big plate, also supports the idea that course dining was never a component of Indian cuisine culture. In British cuisine, soups are a step in a course meal rather than being poured over other meals. Instead, other foods are added to the soup, such as fried bread croutons.
The causes for the lack of soups in Indian cuisine are explained by Colonel Kenney Herbert, who formerly served in the British army in the Madras Cavalry and subsequently began writing about food. In colder nations where a fire is constantly maintained for warmth, the stock pots containing meat bones and kitchen scraps are constantly boiling and replenished with liquids, serving as the foundation for all soups and similar dishes. This is not feasible in India, however, where the temperature is high and the stock would spoil without refrigeration unless it is consumed right away.
The concept of what constitutes a soup or, in Hemchandra’s example, what Indian cuisine is all about—but throughout this discussion, one thing is clear: we are all searching for a liquid that has provided nourishment since ancient times. Regardless of whether it is referred to as a soup or a dal, whether it is prepared using vegetable or meat stock, whether it is spicy or mild, whether it is thin or thick, whether it is served hot or cold, and whether it is made with wheat bhakri or croutons, it ultimately originates from the same food chain.
The wide range of creative beverages that the Indian cuisine has produced makes us wonder if India has soup or not.
The Indian soup that originated from milagutanni is called Mulligatawny, or in Tamil, it’s called pepper water, which is somewhat similar to Rasam.
Perhaps the Madras chefs began serving rasam from the water used to boil dal in order to satisfy the British requirement for a course of soups.
The cooks may have made it thicker to appeal to British tastes, but they also kept it a little on the spicier side.
The same rasam, when transported with the indentured laborers from South India to Mauritius, became known as rasson, which sometimes had a hefty dose of rum added. The practice of adding alcohol to soups is an age-old tradition, with vodka being added to beef broth to create the soup beverage known as Bullshot. Adding a little wine to the last drops of soup is similar to French cuisine.
The rasam was cooked with bits of pineapple for a hint of fruitiness, and it turned out to be a well-liked wedding dish in Chennai. Adding fruits to soups is very common in many cuisines, such as the Hungarian sour cherry soup, which is made with dried apricots. Even tomato and plum soup is a positive change that adds a surprisingly fruity flavor to an otherwise bland tomato soup.
Since there are so many differences between Indian dals and Western soups, there may be some borrowing and a source of inspiration for creating something new. For example, besan or chickpea flour can be a better alternative to refined flour and butter for making a roux, much like Indian Kadhi. For a more mild flavor, you may even add rajam or chhola beef broth. Adding a little spice to the brown soup by frying it in hot oil at the last minute and then tempering or tadka it could make it taste a lot more interesting.
Instead of beetroot, the leaves of the red Amarnath tree might be used in the well-known Russian soup Borscht to provide a beautiful, eye-catching red hue, and apricots may be incorporated into dals to give them a Middle Eastern flavour. If Gandhi had prepared carrot soup in coconut milk, Hemchandra might have enjoyed it since it is so tasty even when made that way.