DEONARAYAN, DHARMENDRA AND DALMOTH

I am going to talk about the good old days once again when one rupee was a luxury. I mean you could get so much from the wayside shops on the way to school. 50 paisa worth aloo thukpa was enough for two, churan was just five annas a piece (the round ones), suntala mithai, kalo mithai, peppermint drops were all five annas a piece and not to forget the huge khochi (newspaper cones) of piro channa, mattar and dalmoth. I specially remember dalmoth as you really dont get dalmoth anywhere else specially in newspaper cones. It used to be spicy, tangy and really smelly as it used to be salted with rock salt - birey noon or padhey noon(fart salt) as some called it and it did smell like someone around had a bad digestive system.The best ones were those that made you sick later - which were full of chilly powder and rather red. After eating the dalmoth licking the hands carefully, finger by finger was another ritual in itself.

Deonarayan bhaiyya, the grocer near our house sold the dalmoth. His stock was kept in a big tin and he carefully measured out 50 paise/one rupee worth portions in newspaper cones while we would coerce him to add some more. And the most fascinating thing were the faces of film stars stuck on his tins probably from some old magazines - Smita Patil, Mithun, Raj babbar, Sree Devi, Jaya Prada, Jeetendra etc. Films being restricted in my house the photographs were an added attraction, in fact I came to know many of the film stars from my visits to this shop with a lot of help from Deonarayan bhaiyya himself. The last time I visited home I saw that his shop has transformed into something different. Gone were the bright blue wooden walls and the shutters hammered out of old tins and painted a deep green, in its place was a concrete structure painted a staid colour with a glass and steel STD booth added near it. I didn't have to go in to find out if the tins were still having posters of film stars were still around. Deonarayan bhaiyya's shop had changed and I guess after a few years it will inch its way to become one of those unfriendly self service shopping places where you walk around with a trolley and be serviced by a bored attendant at the cash counter.

Here is my recipe for dalmoth, it isn't as good as the original but then you don't fall sick with this.

INGREDIENTS

250 grams split chana dal

100 grams peanuts

2 cups oil

2 tsp powdered rock salt

1/2 tsp pepper powder

1/2 tsp roasted cumin(jeera) powder

1/2 tsp chilly powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

LETS DO IT

Soak the chana dal in water for 2 hours.

Drain the water and spread the dal to dry in shade for a day.

Heat oil in a kadai and fry the peanuts and keep aside.

Fry the soaked and dried dal in the oil on a low flame till it turns crisp and golden.

In the last batch of dal you fry add the turmeric powder just before removing from flame.

Mix all the powders, peanuts and salt in the fried dal and mix well.

Let the mixture cool before packing it in an airtight container.