I absolutely love this dhal recipe! One of my Aunts visited UK last summer and she made this dhal for us, it’s originally my great grandmother’s recipe. I wrote down the recipe to T and make it very often as it’s so close to my heart ! That apart, it’s so delicious and incredibly creamy !

Dhal is a very commonly prepared dish back home in India. Traditionally, we never make dhal with coconut milk, I saw it for the first time when I started following a lot of food blogs on the internet.

The taste of dhal depends on the quality of lentils that you use. One of the most important steps in preparing dhal is to wash the lentils in running water to remove impurities. Addition of spices like turmeric and asafoetida/hing gives it that authentic flavour.

Ingredients:

1. 3/4 cup lentils, preferably split pigeon peas/tuvar dhal. This time I used red lentils.

2. 2 cloves of garlic, minced

3. A small piece of ginger, minced

4. 1 tsp cumin seeds

5. Pinch of asafoetida

6. 2 tsp turmeric powder

7. Green chillies to taste, finely chopped (optional). I used 2 chillies.

8. 2 tsp chilli powder

9. 1 tsp carom seeds, optional.

10. 1 tsp fenugreek seeds

11. 2 tbsp chickpea flour

12. 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped

13. 1 tsp mustard seeds

14. Oil to cook

15. Salt to taste

16. Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Cook dhal in a pan or in a pressure cooker until soft and mushy. Keep aside.

2. In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add green chillies, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and carom seeds. Add ginger and garlic and sauté until raw smell goes away.

3. Add in the tomatoes, salt, turmeric, and chilli powder and cook until tomatoes are mushy. They should start to leave oil from the sides.

4. At this stage, add chickpea flour and mix well. The raw smell of chickpea flour should go away.

5. Mix in the cooked dhal and simmer for 10-15 mins on low heat.

6. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with Naan or rice.

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Curries Lunch and Dinner