From ufdifrom@sandbenders.demon.co.uk.invalid Fri Feb 14 11:06:54 2003 Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 18:47:59 +0000 From: Steph Peters Reply-To: ufdirep@sandbenders.demon.co.uk Newsgroups: uk.food+drink.indian Subject: Re: Tarka Dal "Rodders" of wrote: >On the advice of some recents posts I purchsed myself Kris Dhillon's "The >Curry Secret". Decided to try out the Tarka Dal. Firstly because it was >simple and I was going to work and secondly I had never taste a Lentil dish. > >Thoughts: tasted bland as if something was missing. This may be normal for >lentil dishes, I do not know. >Can someone comment on this, should I spice it up a little? >Ingredients. >half cup lentils >3 cups water >pinch of salt >1 small onion >3 cloves garlic >4 tablespoonsghee >pinch tumeric >half a teaspoon garam masala >1 small tomato >2 teaspoons of green corriander Definitely spice it up . Compared to the dal recipes I have, that looks very short on spices. A quick, very unscientific, flick through the recipe books suggests that most dals have whole or ground cumin in them, which would increase the heat level. If you used red lentils, they aren't terribly strongly flavoured themselves, but lentil dishes usually make up for that with spices. You can get more flavour by using a different pulse; brown lentils have more taste and Puy lentils are delicious on their own. Red lentils don't need soaking before cooking, but the other sorts do. Here's an alternative dal recipe which I like, and should be somewhat more interesting. Masoor Dhal 8 oz red lentils 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp poppy seeds 1 tsp salt 2 tsp coriander seeds 6 cloves 2 inch piece of cinnamon 4 green cardamon pods 4 black peppercorns 1/2 tsp chilli powder 1 tsp turmeric 2 tbsp oil 2 onions 4 cloves garlic 2 oz creamed coconut (would be OK with dessicated) salt pepper Dry roast the spices except the chilli powder and turmeric in a heavy bottomed pan and grind until smooth. Peel and chop the onions, crush the garlic and grate the coconut. Drain the lentils, heat the oil in a pan and fry half of all the spices for 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add the lentils and some water, about half a pint (may need more later), and add the coconut. Simmer or microwave about 15 minutes, then add the rest of the spices and check whether more liquid is required. Cook until the whole thing goes into a mushy mass (maybe another 5 minutes). -- Red meat is _not_ bad for you. Now blue-green meat, *that's* bad for you! Steph Peters, Manchester, England email: delete invalid from eat@sandbenders.demon.co.uk.invalid