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Dalgona rice: Your everyday lunch gets a glam makeover thanks to the internet
This unique and fresh twist to the popular Indian preparation of ‘dal-bhaat’ may become your go-to meal during the quarantine.
Staying indoors amid the lockdown is making people come up with quirky new ideas and food connoisseurs are making the most of it by creating innovative recipes. One such preparation, Dalgona rice, is winning the heart of netizens, as they express their love for gourmet food with even the most basic ingredients.
The appealing Dalgona rice may become your go-to meal during the quarantine, as you discover the fresh twists that the popular Indian preparation of ‘dal-chawal’ has undergone lately.
Poet and foodie Abid Zaidi says, “I had tried it before…with black lentils, rice and some coriander chutney (after seeing ice cream sundaes served like this). When this trend of Dalgona coffee started, I was reminded of my earlier creativity.”
Another Twitter user, Siddharth Bhatter, also tried his hands at giving a new look and feel to the good old curry rice combination and posted a picture online. “I was very fascinated by the Dalgona coffee version so it just clicked and I tried this desi Dalgona rice version of the same. It looked beautiful and I loved it”, he says.
The Dalgona rice recipe is prepared using a solid foundation of steamed rice topped with your choicest lentils and garnished with some veggies and mint chutney, all of this poured layer by layer in a jar or glass. Some foodies have also suggested adding golden fried onion and dollops of curd or butter, to bring some more variation. And different glassware is also being used to serve it more aesthetically.
Commenting on this fad, Delhi-based IT professional Aalok Singh says that Dalgona rice is nothing unusual compared to what we have been eating for centuries but its appealing presentation in a fresh form is making it a popular dish among younger generation.
“I used a Cognac glass to try the Dalgona dal-rice combo. The aesthetic of it, combined with great taste, surely makes it very easy to cook and great to serve. I am sure this will sustain the test of time and I prefer to call it the glam fast-food avatar of our very own dal-bhaat,” Singh says.
Mumbai resident Rohan Kachalia also posted a picture of Dalgona rice in a glass jar. “We all love to do quirky things to make our lives happier and make it a little less mundane. So why not turn the less interesting dal-rice combination into an interesting one! And that’s how the idea of Dalgona rice germinated,” Kachalia says, adding that it was his wife’s idea to use a jar for better presentation.
