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Yellow Dahl

Picture is coming soon How it should look like - Now do it better!

We've learnt this recipe in Rishikesh, India. We stayed at a guest house and asked the owner if he could recommend any place to do a cookery class in the area. He didn't have any, but he said his wife could do it for us. So she did it! It was actually a great idea because doing it at their house felt more informal and authentic. She was a very good cook as well - at least we thought so!

We discovered Asafoetida (Hing) which is the base of all Indian Dahls - and differently from other spices, it's not known in the Western world at all (although Romans knew it!). It has got a pungent smell, far more than garlic. Apparently, it's basically the dried latex exuded from the roots of the Ferula (plant).

Ingredients (2 people)#

  • Yellow lentils: 150-200 gr
  • Onions: 3
  • Garlic: 10 cloves (although I use a bit less than that usually)
  • Tomatoes: 1 large or 2 small
  • Green chilli: 1 (I never use this, too spicy for me!)
  • Fresh ginger: 1 cm cube
  • Fresh coriander: 5-6 branches
  • Spices: Asafoetida powder, Cumin seeds, Grounded turmeric, Grounded coriander, Kashmiri chilli powder (the latter is to give colour, not flavour)
  • Mustard oil (this is as per original recipe, but if you don't have it, use another seeds oil)
  • Pink salt

Method#

1) Prepare the Yellow lentils#

  • Wash them three times
  • Soak them in water for 5 mins

2) Prepare a masala#

Take all of the following ingredients and blend them all together. Then leave them apart for later.

  • 1 onion
  • 10 slices of garlic
  • 1 cm of fresh ginger
  • 1 green chilli
  • A few branches of fresh coriander
  • 1 tsp of pink salt

3) Cook the Yellow lentils#

  • Put the lentils into a pressure cooker, with double the amount of water vs the grams of lentils (i.e. for 200 gr of lentils, use 400 gr of water)
  • Add 1 tsp of pink salt, 1 tsp of grounded turmeric, 1 tbsp of mustard oil

4) Prepare the Tarka and add Masala to it#

  • TARKA (aka "Tadka"): Put 2 tbsp of mustard oil in a pan, and add 1 tsp of asafoetida and 1 tsp of cumin seeds, and sauté
  • Then before the cumin seeds get burned, put the masala mix inside the pan and cook
  • Blend 1 large tomato (or 2 small ones) briefly
  • Add 2 chopped onions, the blended tomato and a pinch of salt to the pan. Then cook until tomato is mashed
  • Once cooked, add a very tiny bit of kashmiri chilli powder, and 2 tsp of coriander powder

5) Merge everything together#

  • Once the lentils are cooked, pour the tarka & masala mixture into the pressure cooker
  • Bring to boil on low flame, without the lid
  • Once it boils, take out of the flame and leave it there for 15 mins, so that it thickens. Then it's ready!

Tips#

I'd suggest eating it with basmati rice or pita bread.