Skip to main content

Need to promote growth of Lentils in India





Scroll to end of note for lentil flour recipes

India has been a predominantly vegetarian country ever since the days of Buddha. Instead of meat there have been three major sources of proteins

  1. Milk and milk products
  2. Lentil beans
  3. Roasted nuts and beans such as Peanuts and chickpeas (Chana + Mungfali)

While the growth of wheat has been promoted in modern times and there is little shortage of carbohydrates as a result of it, there has been a shortage of the other products that provide protein or they have become too expensive for a large proportion of the population. As a result, while people may not suffer from hunger they suffer from malnutrition.

The question arises as to how to promote the growth of lentil beans in a manner that is easy to implement and does not allow leakage of the scheme into corruption and misuse. The thought has occurred to this blogger that if as a subsidy packets of dry fertilizer/pesticide mixed with good quality lentil bean seeds are provided free or near free to lentil growing farmers in the relevant agricultural areas of the country, they are likely to give a big boost to production. Receiving free seeds mixed with some fertilizer mixed in it is of great assistance to farmers and they are then likely to grow more lentils in the country.  Mixing in fertilizer/pesticide would provide an element of subsidy but most of all it would prevent the seed being sold or consumed as a dal (A thick soup of lentil beans with some added spice, herbs and cooking oil) without growing. Certainly, a farmer receiving a free packet may sell it off to another farmer but that is not a problem as long as the seed is planted. It goes without saying that such a distribution should be done in areas that are already well known for growing different lentils for best results. It implies that the area is suitable for growth of the seed distributed and farmers are already familiar with growing that crop. A mapping based on that may be done of the entire country to discover which areas are best for which particular lentils. Further support may be provided to those areas by enhancing their irrigation and marketing infrastructure.

Some brief instructions in an easy to understand pamphlet in bold type and easy language on the planting method of the mix may be provided with the packets so distributed.


Healthy replacements for Expensive Lentils and Recipes

 


While the proposal given here and other attempts to reduce Lentil prices will take some time in India, one must always consider healthy replacements that are less expensive in the meantime. The experience of this author is that Mother Earth produces a wide variety of foods and those who shun expensive foods, replacing them with cheaper ones come out as winners and healthier. Amongst lentils, the bengal gram lentil (chana dal) and the dried peas lentils are still cheap being around half or one third the price of other more popular lentils in many areas. By themselves they make a horrible dal (lentil soup) that is not easily digested leading to flatulence. However both can be ground into flour called Besan from Bengal gram or peas and both make delicious replacements for Dal as either Karhi or Besan gattas (besan dumplings)

The only caution required in use of besan is that the one available from the market may not be of the best quality or fresh from several outlets and one can never see what has gone into the ground mix as one can with the whole lentil bean. It is best to clean/wash, re-dry lentils again in the sun thoroughly and prepare one's own for a month at a  time stored in a tight container. One could do this if one has a grinder at home or use the services of another in the market.

Kardhi

A Kardhi is far more nutritious than lentils provided yoghurt is used in its preparation.

Here is a recipe: Mix in four heaping table spoons of Besan and an equal amount of yoghurt/dhai in a bowl into a smooth paste. Now heat some oil in cooking pot, when it is very hot add a few mustard or cumin seeds then the Besan+Yoghurt paste, stir rapidly for a minute and begin adding from a glass full of water a little at a time stirring all the while. Once all the water has been added, let it simmer on slow heat for half an hour. Stir from time to time to prevent sticking and burning on bottom, but if it does transfer unstuck portion to another pot and continue.

Add other seasonings such as garlic, coriander, ginger and other spices and turmeric, salt as per taste. Adding chopped vegetables such as spinach will increase nutritional content of kardhi and bring in variation


Besan Gatta (dumplings):

Kneed some Besan with a little water just as wheat dough for bread, add a little oil to mix to make it less sticky and easier to handle. Then shape bits into rectangular pieces. Some roll the dough into a long stick, flatten it and cut pieces with an oiled knife. Duck these in boiling salted water and boil for ten minutes. Drain and strain and set aside these Gattas. These may be then used in a recipe to prepare a curry as prepared with meat for a delicious dish. The interested reader shall find many recipes for chicken curry or mutton curry on the net. Use the same recipe replacing meat or chicken with these Besan Gattas. If fresh green peas are in season, do add some to make the dish nicer, but towards the end of cooking to keep them nice and bright green.

A variation that makes the gattas far tastier and perhaps even healthier than meat, something like a goat liver curry, is to use spinach for preparing the gattas. For this steam some well washed spinach leaves, cool and grind in a blender. Then while preparing the gatta dough use some of this ground spinach paste instead of water. If some spinach paste is left, freeze for use on another day or prepare a spinach dish for another meal with it. Spinach dishes are used by replacing water with ground spinach in several curry recipes.

The Meal:

Both Karhi and Besan gatta dishes are usually consumed with steamed rice or bread/roti/chapati/nan and a side salad. Chopped onions and green chillies that are not too hot are a great salad with rotis while grated carrots/radishes/ finely chopped mix of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes a great salad when rice is used in the meal
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

On Revival of Soma plant of Rig Veda

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Path_between_sugar_canes_%285216462193%29.jpg Similar Document also available for view or download at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/290825034/On-Revival-of-Soma-plant-of-Rig-Veda Abstract An ancient plant was described as a god amongst plants in the Rig Veda, an ancient sacred text of Indo-Aryans. The proper identification of this plant has been lost to mankind since ancient times. Scholars have made several diverse attempts to identify what this plant might be but none of the proposals come near the original Soma plant. In the present note a possible identification of this plant is made with a likely extinct variety of a sugar cane plant. It is suggested how an existing varieties may be genetically modified to yield a variety close to original Soma 1. Introduction There was a plant of earth that grew around the Himalayas known as Soma. It was regarded by ancient Indo-Aryans as godly plant. Ancient Indo-Aryans...

An Exhaustive Review of WriterBay.Com - My Experience

R ecently, through a Google search, I discovered WriterBay.Com. It is an online website that provides help to anyone who might wish a written report on just about any topic, for a fee. It also provides freelance online work to anyone who may wish to undertake such work. I applied to this website and have been with them for about a week at the time of writing this review. This review is based on my experience with them in this period. Before writing this post, I grappled with the question if I should write a review at all because it has criticism. However, I decided in favor writing it so that it would help huge number of persons who scout for freelance online work as well as numerous students that approach this website for help. My criticism is a constructive one with suggestions for improvements. If Writer Bay took it in this light, this report shall help them to reinvent themselves into a productive outfit that helps the world rather than the other way around and the...

How to build a toilet for less than a few thousand rupees or twenty dollars – and stop open defecation

The Septic Drain T hose who live in developed countries may be surprised to learn that a large part of the human population lives without a toilet. Put crudely they simply piss and shit out in the open. In India it is estimated that half the population does that. This is all the more tragic in a country that invented toilets, bathrooms and covered drains five thousand years ago in the Indus Valley civilization ( http://alienaccount.blogspot.in/2013/09/indus-valley-and-atlantis.html ). Since then though, a lot of piss and water has passed under the bridge with a slide into poverty and decay. Aside from the inconvenience of having to run out into the fields every now and then, the phenomenon of open defecation poses some serious issues that have only increased with an increase of population density on the planet. First are health issues. When it rains the waste is washed into drains, rivulets, rivers, ponds and lakes. Water sources are then charged with disease causing bac...