A bowl full of soul – Daal made simple

There’s nothing more comforting than a hot bowl of daal to make you feel better after a long hard day. It’s one of the simplest yet heartiest and healthy dishes you can eat, being principally made of pulses. The garnish, or “Tarka” which I like to call the ‘hero of the dish’, is made of onions and a few spices finishing it off perfectly and giving this dish both a picancy and body.

Daal is a staple part of the South Asian diet, eaten as a main

 or in many cases as a side dish functioning like a healthy 

addition to any Indian meal. It was and still is always a 

winner at my mums dinner table.

Being such a versatile dish, you can enjoy daal on its own as a healthy snack, or dare to be decadent with hot buttered roti or crusty bread to scoop up this deliciously thick soupy dish.

1 ½  cups of red split lentil (Masoor daal) washed

3 ½ cups of water

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp birds eye red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin seeds   

1 heaped tsp salt

Handful of coriander leaves chopped

For Tarka: (the hero of this dish!)

½ large onion sliced finely

½ tsp cumin seeds

3tbs Olive oil / butter / ghee / oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)

3 whole red chillies

4 cloves of garlic

Method

Place your daal in a medium sized pan along with the water and spices. Place on the stove on a relatively high heat  and bring to the boil. Cook for at least 20- 25 minutes on a moderate heat until the lentils have softened and most of the water evaporated. If you need to add more water, do so, your daal should not boil dry; it should resemble a paste with some liquid; the individual lentils themselves almost dissolved. Once cooked, turn off the heat.

Tarka:

For this part, heat your oil in a different pan and throw in your chopped onions, cumin seeds, garlic and red chilli. Fry on a high heat until the onions turn a dark golden brown. Once cooked, waste no time in throwing most of the onions over the cooked daal and place the lid back onto the daal swiftly to retain all the flavours. I like to leave some of the onions to one side to use as a garnish when serving the dish. After a few minutes, lift the lid and  stir in the onions so that they are combined into the body of the daal.

Your daal  is ready to serve either  with hot buttered roti / rice/ naan or crusty bread.

Enjoy!