Red lentil dhaal
The smooth taste of the lentils blended with the spicy mix with a firm garlic background does the trick for me every time.
Equipment
- deep pan
- Long handle wooden spoon
Ingredients
Cooking the lentils
- 1 litre Water
- 200 g Red lentils
Paste
- 1/2 tbsp Salt
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 25 grams Butter Or ghee.
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 25 g Ginger Grated
- 4 cloves Garlic Grated or Finely chopped.
- 2 Onion Medium size, Finely chopped.
- 1 Fresh chilli Finely chopped
- 1.5 tsp Gharam masala
Optional
- 4 sprigs Fresh Coriander
- 1 Tomato Large, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Set the lentils to boil
- Rinse the lentils in warm water, pick out and discard any debris and bad lentils. Drain and repeat two more times and drain again.
- Add the water and the lentils to a large pan.
- Add the salt and turmeric
- When the lentils start to boil then turn the heat down to a simmer.
- Simmer until soft (approx. 40 minutes).
Make the spicy paste
- Add butter to a frying pan, turn heat to a simmer and wait for the butter to melt.
- Add the cumin seeds, cook for a minute or two until you start to hear them crackle.
- Add the garlic, and cook just for a short while until you see their colour begin to change.
- Add the onions, stir regularly preventing the onions from sticking. When they have softened and just starting to brown, add the Chilli.
- Once the onions have browned, add the ginger, followed by the chopped tomatoes. Fry the ginger for about two minutes careful it does not stick.
- Add the gharam masala, cook and stir for just another minute.
Mix the paste into the lentils
- When the lentils have softened, pour the spicy paste into the pan with the lentils.
- Prepare the coriander by breaking away the leaves from the stalks, chop them.
- Stir the coriander into the dhal shortly before you are ready to serve.
- After a couple more minutes, the dhal is ready to serve, pour into bowls and garnish with chopped coriander.
Cooking kits