Rhubarb Dal with Sweet Potatoes and Chard

Every year, we get a fresh home-grown batch of rhubarbs from my husband's colleague. And every year, I wonder how to put the tart rhubarbs to good use. Over the years, I have tried making cakes, brownies, jam, pie, and crisps. Essentially, I have drowned the rhubarb with sugar, strawberries, chocolate etc. to make it palatable, because this particular batch of rhubarbs are incredibly sour. This time, I wanted to steer away from making any desserts or sweets with them. So, I searched for some savory rhubarb recipes and found a very interesting one that uses rhubarb in a lentil curry with chard and sweet potatoes. I think it's pretty clever to use rhubarbs along with sweet potatoes, so I adapted from the wonderful idea and made an authentic Indian dal, and it turned out great! Everyone in the family loved it, so I heaved a sigh of relief. Now, I finally know what to do with rhubarbs that doesn't involve sugar!

The sour rhubarb takes the place of tomatoes, tamarind, lemon etc. in the dal. And the sweet potatoes just add a subtle layer of sweetness to balance the extra sourness. If you don't have sweet potatoes and the rhubarbs are too sour, just add some jaggery or brown sugar towards the end. I also love red chard and often add them to dals. So, it went along with the rest.

I used Indian sweet-potatoes this time (shown below). They are sweeter and smaller than regular 

orange sweet potatoes.

Indian sweet-potatoes

Adapted from here

Ingredients (serves 5-6):

1. 1 cup peeled and diced rhubarb (from 4 small stalks)
2. 2 medium-sized Indian sweet-potatoes, peeled and diced
3. 1 bunch of red chard, ribs removed and roughly chopped
4. 1.25 cups toor dal / tuvaram paruppu / orange lentils
5. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6. 1 teaspoon jeera / cumin seeds
7. 1 medium-sized red onion, finely chopped
8. 3 cloves of garlic, minced
9. 1 teaspoon of minced ginger
10. 2 teaspoons dhania powder / coriander powder
11. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
12. salt, as needed
13. 3 tablespoons tomato paste (optional, but the sweet-potatoes will balance the extra tartness)
14. 1/4 cup coriander leaves / cilantro

Preparation:

1. Add rhubarb, sweet-potatoes, chard, and toor dal to a pressure cooker or sauce-pan. Cover with enough water (covering all the chard) and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. The chard might look like a lot, but it will wilt. If not using a cooker, cook in a sauce pan until dal is completely cooked. 
2. Heat oil in another pan on medium heat. When hot, add cumin seeds and let it sizzle. Add onion and saute until translucent. 
3. Add ginger and garlic and fry for a few seconds. 
4. Add turmeric powder and dhania powder and fry for a minute. (You can also add some red chilli powder for some heat)
5. Add tomato paste and salt and cook for 7 minutes until the tomato paste incorporates into the spices. (you can also add plain tomatoes. Make sure to cook them until mushy and pasty)
6. When the dal and vegetables are cooked, add the onion-tomato spice mixture to it and stir well. Simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes until the spices mix with the lentils. 
7. Garnish with cilantro leaves and remove from heat. 

Serve with rice, quinoa or rotis.