Tea at Trianon: Deeply Delicious Lentil Stew

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, May 26, 2023

Deeply Delicious Lentil Stew

From Milk Street:

With one hand clutching their billowing white robes to their faces—shielding the gods from their breath—the teenagers used their other to tenderly, methodically dip and wipe, dip and wipe, dip and wipe, a meticulous wash and repeat in which they carefully dab milk on, then off the stone deities they knelt before.

Such is the pace of life at Lodha Dham Temple, an open-air Jain monastery where stacked stone spires, towering pillars and marble floors glow under a blinding white sun. Tucked off a dusty stretch of Ahmedabad Highway just 90 minutes north of Mumbai, life here is lived pared. No vehicles. No electricity. No money. Simplicity.

Which is why I’d come to learn one of India’s simplest dishes, dal tarka. What I didn’t realize is that I was about to learn something that would change my entire understanding of Indian cooking.

As so many in the West do, I thought of dal as little more than a bland porridge of yellow lentils. But as with Lodha Dham Temple, there are deep nuances and textures if you are willing to see them.

The public is welcome to join the monks for their vegetarian meals. And for less than $1, I was given a stainless steel tray, which cooks quickly heaped with rice, vegetable curries, roti and a bowl of soupy, yellow dal tarka.

Truthfully, the dal tarka was not much to look at. But it tasted nothing like it looks. The lentils themselves were creamy and sweet. Topping it was a drizzle of richness and toasted spices. The flavor was astounding, with pops of coriander, chili and cumin, all of it grounded by earthy turmeric. That drizzle took something so basic and plain and completely transformed it. (Read more.)