Dhal Bhat: What is it?

It is usually prepared with Curry like many things in India. But, what it is essentially is Lentils prepared with Curry. Another thing I found hard to get used to was fried potatoes also prepared with Curry. When I was in India and Nepal 4 around 4 months in 1985 and 1986 with my family, when we were traveling by train across India from Gaya (near Bodhgaya) to Varanasi (Benares) and then to where the Taj Mahal is on the way to New Delhi.

So, at train stops we could get out and buy Chai tea in pottery cups that you smash on the tracks for little boys to regather and re-fire the cups in kilns. So, instead of paper cups they simply made their own pottery cups which they then recycled through kilns into new cups which were gathered by little boys when you dropped the pottery cups on the tracks for them to gather. You drank the Hot Chai tea which I liked a lot because there is no coffee crash with Chai tea which is nice. Also, you could buy hot Dhal Bhat from vendors at stops too along with curried Potatoes which are fried potatoes in curry. 

The other interesting thing for me is that they used mustard oil to cook with and I have never seen this here in the U.S. You also would see plot of land growing Mustard which grows wild and isn't harvested here in California on flat spaces after a big rain often. So, I found all this very strange and different than what we experience here in California and throughout the U.S.

Also, the trains in 1985 and 1986 were stream trains which was very interesting as well.

The other interesting thing was that you could buy a ticket to hang onto the outside of a train but my family I wouldn't have them do this. However, my sons and I often rode on top of buses with the luggage across India on hot days because usually there was no air conditioning on public buses. Only private carriers with more expensive buses had air conditioning then.

But, for trains I discovered slowly that you could ONLY buy train compartment tickets from Scalpers so I sent the Tibetan Lama's English Translator from Darjeeling to buy us compartment tickets to a train which could hold about 8 to 11 people. IT was much safer to travel this way with your own compartment. But first you had to know that you could not buy compartment tickets then except through scalpers. So, this took some time to figure all this out over time.

by the time I returned from India after 4 or 5 months there I had lost my taste for Curry. I never really liked spicy things that much even here in the U.S.

But, while we all were in India while traveling Dhal Bhat and Curried fried potatoes and Chai tea kept us alive and well while traveling by bus or car or Train compartment across India and Nepal.

Because you really have to be aware what you are eating and drinking to stay alive (at least this was true in 1985 and 1986) if you were a westerner not accustomed to what the water is like over there. The water most places in taps (faucets) was polluted then because of overpopulation. So, if you didn't take care of your health then you could easily die of something then just traveling in India and Nepal at that time.

The other thing that was safe to eat was boiled eggs that you peeled and ate yourself. My oldest son mostly just ate boiled eggs after getting sick on Koi Samed island near Bangkok where we snorkeled and rented a Sail Board to stand on while sailing near the island. Imagine a paddle board with a sail where one person can sail around with it.