Summary
Servings:
4
Prep time:
5 minutes
Description
A quick and easy Indian lentil dish.
Ingredients
- 200g yellow lentils, Toovar or chana, soaked in cold water for 1 hour
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 green chillies, split lengthways and seeds removed
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoon shallots, finely chopped
- 2 dried chillies, broken up
- 15 curry leaves
- 1 bunch fresh corriander leaves, chopped
Instructions
- Drain the dal and put in a large saucepan. Cover with water, 4 cm above the line of the dal.
- Add tomatoes, onion, green chillies, garlic, and turmeric.
- Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on which dal you are using.
- When the dal is cooked, but retains a slight bite, heat some more oil in a pan over a medium heat.
- Add the mustard seeds, shallots, dried chillies and curry leaves.
- Fry for 2 to 3 minutes till the shallots are soft and golden.
- Put the dal in a serving dish, pour over the tarka, sprinkle the coriander and serve.
Notes
Tarka is a mixture of spices that are fried in very hot oil and poured, sizzling on top of a dal dish. In this recipe the tarka ingredients are the mustard seeds, shallots, dried chillis and curry leaves.