Red Lentil Dal
The most delicious Dal you will make, be sure to have some naan bread to mop it all up
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentil
- 1 tablespoon butter ghee
- 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 small bay leaf
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 onion finely diced
- 2 green chillies (optional)
- 1&1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 2 teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3 small roma tomatoes skin removed and blended
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- salt only if required
Tadka
- 1 tablespoon butter ghee
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 small green chillies or more
- 3 red dried chillies or more
- 2 sprigs curry leaf
- 3 small cloves garlic
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
Instructions
- Soak the red lentils for 30 minutes.
- Heat the butter ghee in a pot on medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds. Once the cumin seeds splutter add the cinnamon and bay leaf and fry for a few seconds
- Add the chillies and onion and saute until slightly brown. Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry for a minute, until the raw smell disappears
- Add the turmeric, chilli powder, cumin and coriander. Add a few drops of water if required and fry for a minute
- Add the blended tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes
- Add the lentils and the vegetable stock. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the lentils are tender
- Make the tadka and add to the dal
Tadka
- Heat 1 tablespoon ghee to a pan. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow it to splutter
- Add the chillies, curry leaf and garlic and fry for a minute until the garlic is fragrant
- Mix into the cooked dal
Notes
- You can substitute 1 cup of the vegetable stock with coconut milk or coconut cream
- The chilli at the beginning of the cooking process is optional, however it does give the dal a nice kick
- You can reduce the amount of chillies if you don't like the heat