Lentil Daal
This is so easy to make and so tasty that you'll feel like you're cheating. You're not. Curry is just that good. I'm gonna start off with the most basic recipe -- there are a load of ways to make it better, but even a simple daal is tasty as hell. It's a solid side dish to any curry, but it also works just fine with rice as the star attraction.
You'll need
- A saucepan
- A chopping board
- Curry powder
- Some cooking oil
Ingredients (for two people)
- 200g dry red lentils
- Half an onion
Method
- Peel and chop the onion. You only need half -- put the other half in the fridge (or if you're making other curries with this, use it in them)
- Put a little oil in the pan, and fry a teaspoon of curry powder in it for a few seconds. Stir it well.
- Add the chopped onion to the frying curry powder. Again, stir it well, get it good and coated with the oil.
- Once the onion's clear, pour the dry lentils in. Stir them and get them coated too.
- As soon as the lentils are coated, pour cold water into the pan until the lentils are covered. Stir well -- this is your opportunity to make sure nothing has stuck to the bottom.
- Bring the mixture to the boil, and reduce the heat so it's on a low simmer. It'll take about 30 minutes before it's done -- check every ten or so to make sure nothing's sticking. The lentils will slowly thicken to a porridge-like consistency.
- You can taste-test to see if it's done. The daal should be smooth and thick, with no gritty hard bits. Stir in a pinch of salt and pepper and serve.
Variations
- All right, so the first thing you're gonna want to do if you're getting serious about this is to switch out that curry powder. If you've got even a basic spicerack, you can do better than that. I like to use earthy flavours: a teaspoon each of ground cumin, smoked paprika, and garam masala.
- You can make it hotter and you damn well should. Chop up some chillies and fry them with the onions. It sounds weird, and it's definitely not authentically Indian, but I've found that using a smoked chiptole or two works really well.
- Any curry worth its salt should have some garlic and ginger paste in. If you've got a food processor, throw in three or four peeled cloves of garlic and an equal quantity of peeled ginger, a glug of olive oil, and blend to a fine paste. This ginger and garlic paste can be fried alongside the onions and spices. If you're making several curry dishes at once, make more of the paste and use it in them too, it's brilliant stuff.