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Share your favourite dal recipe!
I’ve been trying to cook a good dal/dahl/daal, but the recipes I’ve tried haven’t quite hit the spot. They’ve been nice, but I feel like it’s just not quite there. What are your favourite dal recipes?
Looking at the recipe that @phoenixrises posted, it looks great.
You can do it a little quicker though, and still end up with great dal. Here are a few things I've learned...
Butter/ghee and cream are key. Mostly that's just about fat and viscosity, so if you want it vegan instead you can use coconut milk (full fat with cream) and a neutral oil like refined coconut or avocado. Some recipes call for adding the coconut milk towards the end, similar to how you might do it with cream. I like to add it earlier, it helps mellow out the coconut taste.
You don't actually have to toast whole spices, or make your own garam masala. It does make a difference but it's pretty subtle. A good pre-made garam masala blend and a few other jarred spices gets you at least 90% there. Add the spices at the end of the veggie saute step to toast them a little.
Speaking of the veggie saute step, since the linked recipe doesn't include veggies... Consider sauteeing, at the least, finely chopped or grated onions in the recipe's called for oil before adding the other ingredients.
You can pre-cook the lentils in an instant pot (pre-soak totally optional) to save time.
The truly important ingredients are black lentils, some form of tomato (paste, diced, strained, etc..), cream/coconut milk, butter/oil, garlic, ginger and garam masala. You can just kind of experiment with everything else until you dial it in. I like to be conversative with the spices for dal, too much can distract from the staple soul food goodness of a fundamentally simple dish.
Oh and mash the lentils a bit towards the end with a potato masher or immersion blender, it improves the emulsification, texture and mouthfeel. You want to leave the majority of the lentils whole though.
Thanks that’s really helpful! To be honest, I think it is the oil/cream that I have been too stingy with. I might give a bit more!
I have one! We’ve been eating this regularly for the last 15 years - it’s never left regular rotation since it’s delicious, cheap, and pretty quick. The key is to use a lot of spices and to realize you probably need more salt than you think.
Recipe:
Rinse 1 c red lentils (or channa dal) in 3-4 changes water. Put in a pressure cooker with 2.5 c water, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt, and 0-3 whole serrano peppers. (I often add a little MSG also). Cook for 8 min on low pressure.
Let it come down to normal pressure naturally, then mush some with a wooden spoon. Add in 1/4-1/2 c chopped cilantro.
Chop 1/2 onion and 1 good nub of ginger. Heat 1 tbsp ghee on high. Add 1 tsp whole cumin seeds, then immediately add the onions. Cook for 1-2 minutes stirring often, then add the ginger. Cook another minute, then add 1 Tbsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, and a pinch of asafoetida. Cook 1 more minute, turn off heat, and add 1/2 tsp paprika. Mix it into the dal and give it a little stir. Add freshly ground pepper and more salt as needed.
NB: I’m always very approximate with the ginger and cilantro, but have never once made it and thought I added too much of either.
My recipe is similar to yours, so I'll just post mine here (as well as the video I stole it from). There is a fair amount of flexibility in how one prepares the tadka: like you, usually I leave out the curry leaves and add smoked paprika instead, though I use butter instead of ghee (as I always have butter lying around). Also a warning: it's rather easy to burn the tadka if you aren't being careful.
Ingredients
For the dal
For the tadka
Instructions
For dal
For tadka
References
I made this today and it was excellent!
That’s great to hear :)
My favorite one has always been Dishoom's, they do the 24 hour cook but you can do it in 4 at home apparently!
https://hotcooking.co.uk/recipes/dishoom-house-black-daal/
Seconding this recipe, it's one of my favorite daals I've ever had.
Thanks, I’ll try it! I’ve not been to Dishoom for sometime. It remember the dal being good (as was the masala chai), and very rich (although at times maybe even a bit too rich).
Every time I go to London I try to stop by! I grew up in a very Indian town and my friend told me that it was very similar to home but you can get everything at once.
I'd love to make my own dal makhani in particular if anyone has a recipe to start from. I love Indian food, particularly Punjabi food, and I'm so anxious I'll get it wrong! (I need to just be more okay with recipes not working out all the time)