home | Cooking

Killer Dhal Recipe

This is my recipe for Dhal, which has been modified through trial and error, borrowing from recipes provided by Jai and Dipti, recipes listed in this Indian Home Cooking cookbook, as well as my experiences in India. If you’re not familiar with dhal, it is any dish made out of boiled beans or lentils, usually with spices added. If you had the dhal at Mark and Walter’s new year’s brunch, this is it!

Oftentimes dhal is prepared by boiling the beans (lentils, mung beans, etc) in turmeric and salt, and then once done adding a tempering oil or tadka to finish. In this case I do the spices beforehand and then boil the beans, which seems to work well. (Tip of the hat to the Empress Dhal recipe in the cookbook mentioned above.)

I highly recommend getting a jar of ghee to fry the spices, onions and tomatoes. The difference in flavor is considerable and it is healthier than cooked butter or vegetable oil, due to its high smoke point. Read more on Wikipedia if interested.

Another great ingredient is mango powder, also called Amchoor or Amchur. It adds a subtle sour taste to the Dhal without the juice.

You can get all the ingredients listed below at Global Foods in Kirkwood.

Ingredients:
2 TBSP ghee (or vegetable oil)
1 TBSP cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mango powder
1/8 tsp garlic
1 cup split mung beans
salt
3 roma tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion
1 lime
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bag of chapati
Plain yogurt

Lightly fry the cumin seed and turmeric in the ghee. Use medium low or low heat, you don’t want to brown the cumin seeds. Just heat them enough until you smell them. Then add the garlic and the mango powder and stir, to get the flavors activated.

Next add 1 cup of mung beans and 2.5 cups of water. Add 1tsp salt and bring to a boil. Then lower heat to low, put a lid on it, and let it sit undisturbed for 20 minutes.

During that 20 minutes, roughly chop the onion and soften it in the ghee, careful not to brown or fry the onion. You just want to sweeten it. Once it is sweet and soft, turn up the heat to brown it slightly. Then set it aside. Chop up the tomatoes, sprinkle some salt on them, let them sit for a bit, then toss them in the fry pan with a little more ghee. Put a lid over the tomatoes so they cook down. While the tomatoes are going, chop up 1/3 of the cilantro bunch.

After 20 minutes, take the lid off the beans. Add a little water if it is too dry. Now add the onions, tomatoes and chopped cilantro. Stir, taste for salt, and add some if it needs it. Finally twist a quarter of a lime over the dhal to add the juice.

Let it simmer on low heat so the flavors meld. Now heat up a skillet with no butter or oil, and heat the chapattis. I usually make 4 for 2 people - but that’s because we eat big bowls with a little bread, instead of little bowls with lots of bread like they do in India. Oh, the land of big screen TVs and monster trucks.

Finally dish out the dhal into some bowls, add a dollup of plain yogurt and sprinkle on some cilantro. You’re all set!

© 2009 Nathan Verrill.