Slow Down and Cook

Below is my father’s Dahl Recipe. My father was born and raised in Ajmer, Rajasthan. When India gained independence in 1947, he and his family “returned” to England. It is from my father that I developed my love of Indian food and Indian cooking.

I start with either yellow “toor” dahl or yellow “moong” dahl or red “massoor” dahl. Most of the time I use red massor dahl which is much quicker to soften.  Most of the time I rinse the dahl.

1.  Typically I start with about one cup of dry dahl and use about twice as much water.  I boil the water-dahl mixture watching it fairly closely because it is likely to foam and boil over.  I like to skim most of the foam of the top of the boiling mixture on and off for a few minutes.  The faster it boils, the more foam it generates.  I haven’t seen this in any recipe but I don’t like the “bouquet” of the foam, so I remove it.  This process takes about 30 minutes to soften red dahl and somewhat longer to soften yellow dahls.  I often strain  the water off after the first boiling to get rid of most of the foam and then add more water and start the boiling process again and skim again if necessary.

2.  While the boiling process is happening, in a fry pan I use a small amount of oil and fry about one large thinly chopped onion and several (about six or more cloves of garlic and a chopped up green chile  till the onion is quite transparent and turning golden.  I usually fry the onion for a few minutes before I add the garlic and chile.  Takes me about 10 minutes.  Sometimes I  use a few finely chopped slices of ginger in the onion-garlic fry.

3.  While the onion is frying I use a coffee grinder to grind a mixture of  whole spices.  The amounts and spices are highly variable and depend on how I am feeling, what spices I have and so on.  Here is an essential or “typical” mixture.  All quantities are  approximate.

a) about 2-3 tablespoons of coriander seeds

b) about half that quantity of cumin seeds

c) about half a teaspoon of black peppercorns

d) about a teaspoon of turmeric powder

See the notes below for other optional spices

Sometimes I “dry fry” the seeds and peppercorns for about 30 seconds to a minute before grinding. Sometimes I dry fry them after grinding.  Indian cooking does a lot of quite high temperature dry frying to release the oils in the seeds and thus add to or enhance the flavor.  Don’t dry fry the turmeric powder I think it sort of burns it.  Sometimes I don”t bother to dry fry at all and just add the ground spices to the onion-garlic-chile mixture.

I then add the spice mixture to the onions and fry them together with a little more oil or butter or ghee for about a minute or three and then I add the spice-onion mixture to the boiling dahl.  If the dahl mixture is too dry I add more liquid – usually water, but sometimes I use chicken stock to give it a slightly richer flavor.  I then let everything simmer for a long time.  The extra liquid can be added at any time.

Shortly before serving I add chopped up cilantro and the following:  In about a tablespoon of oil or butter or ghee I fry a couple of cloves of sliced garlic and a teaspoon or so of cumin seeds until the garlic is quite brown and the cumin changes color.  I then add this to the dahl together with chopped up cilantro. The dahl is now done.

Notes:

1. In the dahl I did for you as I recall I added chopped up methi leaves (it was the first time I used  them) and a couple of bay leaves which I added to the the onion spice mixture before I added it to the dahl.  I removed the bay leaves from the dahl.  I also added a pinch of fennel seeds to the mixture of seeds I ground, and I added a pinch of nutmeg to the dahl after everything else was added.

2.  It is hard to find fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves so I often use a very small amount of fenugreek seeds (less than half a teaspoon) which I add to the spices I grind.  Be careful with fenugreek seeds.  They are highly aromatic and it is very difficult to get the bouquet out of the kitchen.

3.  “Dahl” is such a basic and inexpensive and essentially tasteless source of nutrition that every Middle Eastern and Asian nation has its own version of how to flavor it.  As usual it is the Indians who have taken the art of flavoring lentils to a fine art.   You can do almost anything with lentils without making them inedible!

4.  The other spice seeds I have used in the ground spice mixture are “black mustard seeds” (kalonji), cardamon seeds, (elaichi)

As Jacques says ” ‘Appy Cooking”

(Love Dad)