The Dal Recipies thread

Spine

What i hunger for everyday since my return is a recipe for Dal fry, that can recreate the flavor or those in India without using a pressure cooker.

Can anyone help me with this, can i just boil the lentils, and what is the best way to go about judging wot spices are required (I.e. what spices should i put in etc.)

if anyone has a recipe on the web, that'd be gr8

Signed,

The Spine

sggal

You could check out this link

http://www.panix.com/~res/recipes/dal.htm

bindi

Not too familiar with handling lentils so here's a question:
Do I have to soak lentils over night before cooking them?
I've understood that's usually required...?

Tomi

No, bindi, lentils do not need soaking. Also, a lot of dal is not true lentils, but all sorts of other legumes (peas, beans, etc.), and most of them do not need soaking. Chickpeas do.

Travelingbhat

Try out www.bawarchi.com especially in user contributions there are tons of indian recipes from indians all over the world. I am indian and when i am in a bind for a recipe or something creative I turn to Bawarchi for some inspiration.

butterball

TARKA DAL :

A couple of handfuls of yellow dal ( the really fine stuff is best )
Soak for a few hrs
Drain
Add a pint or so of water & boil / simmer til runny & cooked ( 20-30 min? )
Should be of a nice dal consistency
Add 1/4 tsp turmeric & simmer 5 more mins & salt to taste ( is can happliy sit there for a while

Now the 'tarka' bit :

Finely slice a very large onion
Fry gently in Ghee with 5 peppercorns & some cumin seeds til very golden ( 20 mins ? )

Stir this into the dal just before serving

Hey Presto !

Bryan

Butterball ...Your an absolute star!!!!!
I'll try tonight and let you know tomorrow whether I manage it

Cheers
Bryan

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volga_volga

instead of soaking i do 7-8 minutes toasting of the dry dahl on the medium heat. (i suspect that would be called "fried dahl" in a simple Indian eating hole...)

i also love to add toasted mustard seeds to dahl.

Bryan, it that helps, the exact name for the beans for yellow dahl is "yellow split mung beans".

volga_volga

Gujarati Tridoshic Dal

Preparation time: 40 min plus 2 hrs soak for split mung
1 hr 15 min plus 2 hrs for whole mung
- Vata, - Pitta, - Kapha

serves 6-8

1 ¾ cups split mung dal or whole mung beans
6 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon sunflower oil or ghee
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon tumeric
1/8 teaspoon hing
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ teaspoon barley malt or brown rice syrup
1 ½ teaspoons lime or lemon juice
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon curry powder, mild
¼ green pepper, chopped (optional, omit for Pitta)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional, omit for Pitta)

Soak mung for 2 hrs, then drain. In large heavy sauce pan heat oil or ghee and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add turmeric, hing, mung, water, and remaining ingredients. Mix well. Cover and cook for ½ hr if split mung, 1 hr if whole mung, or until mung is quite soft.

Good with chappatis, buttermilk curry (maree, did you want that recipe also?), rice and vegetables.

Samsara

Here's my tip for 20 minutes or so easy peasy red lentil dhal curry. This is when you can't be bothered to prepare it from scratch but it still tastes great.

Always have a jar of great curry paste in your larder and a packet of red lentils. It has to be red lentils as they don't need soaking at all plus cook up to a mush really quickly.

The curry paste should be a very thick concentrated type, including some oil, coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger, tomato ideally as basic ingredients plus whatever other ingredients. If it doesn't "oily" enough, you'll have to add about a teaspoon oil or so.

The curry paste I'm using at the moment is Blue Dragon Thai Red Curry which comes in a glass jar and keeps in the fridge, without freezing, for up to one month. It's very concentrated and very hot (so if you don't like chilli you won't like this one). I find one tablespoon is enough to add to your dhal (about a couple of cups of dhal is enough for two people as it really expands when it's cooked to a mush - I don't know the exact cups and stuff as I just do it by instinct - I think one cup is one serving for one person).

Put in the dried red lentils in a saucepan. Fill saucepan two or three times with cold water and swish the lentils around in it and then drain the water out. This gets rid of any dust/dirt residue. Fill saucepan again with water and bring the red lentils to boil and then simmer/boil for at least 20 minutes depending on how mushy you want it. Stir a bit now and then as the lentils really absorb water fast and you don't want them to dry out or burn. Simmer/boil for another 10 minutes if it's not mushy enough. I like my dhal pretty thick and this curry works if it's a very thick but still a bit liquid like very very thick creamed soup.

When the lentils look mushy enough and you got the liquid consistency right (just add or take away water at the end to do that), stir a tablespoon or two of the curry paste through according to taste and simmer a bit more. And that's it.

If the curry paste jar says stuff about frying onions etc first in oil and then adding the paste, just ignore it unless you want to go through to the extra effort of doing it. If the paste already has stuff like garlic ginger etc it's not really necessary.

This dhal can be had with Indian breads (you can always keep ready made ones from the supermarket in your larder) or even regular various kinds of Western breads, like for soups. Or rice.

lonelyaztec

Ingredients

Dal Gram - 100 gms
Onion - 1 large
Green Chillies - 2 large
Ghee / oil to cook
Corinader Leaves
Garlic - 2 pieces
Tomato - 1
Mustard and Jeera for seasoning

Procedure

1. Boil Dal Gram in Cooker for 20 minutes ( u had to add water along with gram to boil it )
2. Place a pan on stove and add 2 spoons of ghee into it
3. As soon as pan is hot, add chopped onions and chopped chillies into it. Also add mustard, jeera and crushed garlic pod at the same time. Fry until the onions become golden brown in colour.
4. Add chopped tomato pieces to the pan, and leave them to cook for 5 minutes
5. Add pasted dal into the pan and stir well
6. Add water if you want the dal to be thin in consistency
7. Garnish with coriander leaves,and add salt to taste

Note : You can add a few drop of lime juice to your dal for that tangy taste. Dal Fry tastes good with roti and steamed rice.

Attached Images

 

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jyotirmoy

Ever tried mixing all types of Dal? Here is one which has the goodness of five types of Dals plus Spinach.
Ingredients:
Take different Dals like:
100 gms of Moong Dal ,100 gms of Channa Dal ,100 gms of Masur Dal ,100 gms of Arhar Dal ,100 gms of Urad Dal. You can change the quantity according to yuor need, just take equal amount of all the dals.
1 bunch of Spinach, washed and finely chopped
100gms Grated coconut
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1-teaspoon garlic paste
2 Tomatoes, diced
2 onions, finely chopped
1-teaspoon turmeric powder
1-teaspoon cumin powder,
1-teaspoon cardamom,
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 or 2 bay leaves,
Green chilies to taste, sliced
Coriander leaves
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 tablespoons of ghee
Salt to taste


Procedure:
Wash & soak the Urad Dal over night.
Wash clean the other Dals, mix the soaked Urad Dal and pressure cook with water, salt and turmeric powder for 7 minutes or until done.
Heat oil. Sauté thinly chopped onions, until brown.
Add ginger paste, tomatoes, garlic paste, green chilies, and cumin powder. Sauté well.
When everything is blended, add chopped spinach, turmeric powder and salt to it. Stir thoroughly.
Cover and cook till the water evaporates.
Add dal mixture to it. Mix well. Add the grated coconut.
Add cardamom and cinnamon powder to it.
When everything has blended well, and the mixture is of thick consistency, sprinkle coriander leaves and a few green chilies from top for garnishing.
Add two-table spoonful of ghee & serve hot.

federica

Recently I tried this one:

Ingredients:

A couple of handfuls of red lentils (about 1 cup)
3-4 cups of water
Salt to taste
2-3 teaspoons Turmeric
1-2 large onions
1-2 green chilis
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1-2 small cloves fresh garlic, minced
3-4 tomatoes, diced
1/8 cup chopped coriander leaf (cilantro)
2 teaspoons whole mustard seed
1 teapoon whole cumin seed
2 teaspoons vegetable oil


Cook lentils and turmeric in water until lentils are completely soft. About 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute onions, chilis, ginger, and garlic. When soft, add diced tomatoes. Continue cooking until mixture appears homogenous.

Add onion-tomato mixture to lentils. While over low flame, add corainder leaf.

In a small pan, heat oil. Toast mustard seed and cumin seed in oil until fragrant. Add to lentil mixture.

Serve dal hot over rice or as side dish.

I found in on the net, but don't remember where... The quantities of spices should be adjusted for individual taste, I added my personal quantity, so better try it before you serve it!

Sama

thank you very much, federica!

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Sama

2 cups masoor dal
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 1/2 onions, chopped
1 head garlic, separated, chopped
1 (1-inch piece) ginger root, chopped
2 green chiles, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped
Water

Rinse massor dhal thoroughly, until water is clear. In pot bring 1 quart water to boil. Add massor daal & a bit of turmeric.
Cook half way, about 10 to 15 minutes, add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and salt. As massor dhal cooks, uncovered, water will evaporate and mixture will thicken.
Add more water to keep dal loose, like texture of thick cream. Take care so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. When dal is soft, turn off heat. Heat oil in wok. When oil is very hot, add onions and cook until tender and translucent but not browned.
Add garlic, ginger and chiles. Continue to fry until onions are deep-yellow. Add remaining 1 teaspoon of garam masala & a pinch of sugar.
Do not allow spices to burn. Keep stirring until mixture starts to stick. Add tomatoes and green chillies. Cook until tomato softens.
Pour in pot of masoor dal and simmer to blend flavors. Taste and add more salt if needed.

To cut cooking time you can pressure cook the dal with turmeric first & then proceed with frying the onions etc…. I add a table spoon of Ghee to the dal before serving.


(thanks, iwanttogoback! )