Recipe for indian dal
Posted by: Cheese on 23 January 2005
To all the other indian food lovers,
The variety of Indian Cuisine is endless, yet there's one very simple dish which can be heaven on earth if prepared properly - indian dal.
In my cookbook there's a fairly good recipe for spicy Masala Dal, and dozens of other recipes of that kind are available on the Web. What I am looking for, though, is the basic type of dal served all over india, made of red lentils or halved yellow chickpeas.
Can anyone help ? Thank you.
Posted on: 23 January 2005 by monkfish
Hi
Found this while browsing
1 1/2 cup red or brown lentils, yellow or green split peas, or split, hulled, mung beans (I use red lentils)
4 cups water
2 dried chilies, whole
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garam masala, more to taste
salt to taste
Wash the lentils, peas, or beans in several changes of cold water. In a medium pot, cover them with the water and add the whole dried chilies, turmeric, and salt, Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring often, until very tender. This will take about 30 minutes for red lentils, 45 minutes for peas, or an hour or more for mung beans. It may be necessary to add more water to prevent sticking, but only 1/2 cup at a time, because the final consistency should be fairly thick.
When the lentils are almost cooked, heat the ghee or oil in a small pan, add the cumin seeds, and cook for 10 or 12 seconds. Stir in the onions and ginger and cook until the onions begin to brown, about 5 or 10 minutes.
When the lentils are tender, remove and discard the hot peppers. Stir in the onion mixture, lemon juice, garam masala, and salt to taste. Serve, passing additional garam masala to sprinkle on top, if desired.
Variations:
Spinach Dal: Add 4 cups of chopped, fresh spinach to the onions after they have sautied for about 5 minutes and then cook for 5 minutes more.
Tomato Dal: Add 1 cup chopped tomatoes to the onions after they have sautied for about 5 minutes and then cook for about 5 minutes more.
Spinach-Tomato Dal: Add both spinach and tomatoes
Christine's Sinful Dal: Sometimes when I'm feeling naughty (yes, I live life on the edge!) I leave out the vegetable mixture. Instead I thickly slice 1/2 to 2/3 of a head of garlic and fry it in about 1/4 cup oil (preheated to medium-high) with a red pepper pod or two. Stir constantly until the garlic is golden and then immediately dump the oil mixture into the cooked lentils. It gives a satisfying sizzle and the garlic is deliciously sweet. (Cooked like this garlic is more like a vegetable than that typical strong flavour.)
Hope it's of some help to you.
Regards
Jim
Posted on: 23 January 2005 by Dev B
Put some paprika in it to give it a bit of "lift", well that's what my mum used to do anyway.
Posted on: 23 January 2005 by Martin D
Posted on: 23 January 2005 by Berlin Fritz
Having just finished watching a wonderful documentary on the telly about Old Dehli with its fish markets and street cooking, well just about street everything actually, and I thought these scenes may fit well onto this thread, innit. Dal by the lorry-load dished out to the beggars (at least they look after their homeless etc) and jeppattis knocked out by the hundred on a seemingly never ending conveyerbelt of pretty happy go lucky folk. I love Indian food persay, but have never yet been there, and what with the size of the nanbread I just saw cooking (must have been as big as a bedsheet) and their love of malt whiskey with coke, I may well soon be going. The English/Indian commentator did make one observation of note worth considering in that the British Empire inspired Post Offices are run by rather surely, unhelpfull, and arrogant staff, most of them being white English, well I'll be buggered I thought.
Fritz Von Cauliflower barjee and chips please Vijay, and heavy on the lime chutney my son.
Posted on: 23 January 2005 by Tim Danaher
One thing that really peps up dhal is a good 'final fry' - generally some spices fried in a mix of ghee and oil and poured over afterwards.
My absolute favourite for Tarka Dhal is finely-sliced shallots and garlic, fried until they are dark brown and smoky-tasting. Stir a good handful freshly-chopped coriander into the dhal, add a pich of asafoetida to the oil, shallot and garlic fry, pour it over the dhal and serve.
Heaven.
Posted on: 23 January 2005 by undertone
There's a good one here, complete with pictures
Yellow DaalPosted on: 30 January 2005 by Cheese
Thanks monkfish, just tried your recipe and it's very close to what I was looking for. Next time I could try to reduce the amount of garam masala and add a few fresh curry leaves.
Oh and thanks to all others too
Posted on: 30 January 2005 by Berlin Fritz
quote:
Originally posted by Cheese:
Thanks monkfish, just tried your recipe and it's very close to what I was looking for. Next time I could try to reduce the amount of garam masala and add a few fresh curry leaves.
Oh and thanks to all others too
Don'r forget to smother it with grated Ementaler, washed down with a cool bang-lassi or five
