Dahl – Jack’s

Dhal

• about 1C dhal (Mong (little green things), urad (little black things), red lentils (little pink things), brown lentils, anything similar from an Indian grocer)
• water
• rice (to serve)

Tadka (oily mixture)

• a couple of onions
• garlic (peeled and crushed)
• ginger (peeled and crushed)
• oil (plain tasting, or mustard seed, or ghee or butter)
• about 1T mustard seeds
• about 1T ground cumin
• about 1T ground coriander
• about 1T chili flakes or powder
• ground cinnamon (if you fancy)

To finish

• 1-2 tomatoes (skip if unavailable, don't use canned)
• fresh coriander
• turmeric
• salt to taste (essential!)

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Take your choice of dhal (Mong (little green things), urad (little black things), red lentils (little pink things), brown lentils, anything similar from an Indian grocer). Mong and urad also come skin-off which makes them very hard to distinguish. I usually use about 1C of dhal, but it doesn't really matter.

Remember to put rice on to cook.

Cook the dhal in water. If you have carefully planned your life, it speeds up cooking time to soak them overnight. A pressure cooker also speeds it up. Lentils are quite fast, only ~30 minutes speedy simmer. Add lots of water. Stir infrequently because if they break up, they stick more. Keep adding water. The dhal should end up a bit runny.

While the dhal is cooking, begin the tadka (oily mixture). Chop a couple of onions, peel and crush some garlic and ginger.

Put some oil (plain tasting, or mustard seed, or ghee or butter) in a frying pan. Add about 1T each of mustard seeds, ground cumin, ground coriander, chili flakes or powder. Ground cinnamon if you fancy.

Add the onion, garlic and ginger.

Chop 1-2 tomatoes (skip if unavailable, don't use canned) and some fresh coriander.

When the onion is cooked, and still hot, add the tadka to the cooked dhal. Add some turmeric too. Salt to taste (essential!). Stir in the fresh tomato and coriander.

Nom nom.