Smoky Mixed Dal Tarka
If you've ever been to an Indian restaurant in North America, there's a very good chance that you've seen "tarka dal" on the menu. There's a good reason for this apart from the ease of preparation and cooking — a good tarka dal is probably the ultimate Indian comfort food for vegetarians. A good creamy tarka dal is one of my own favorites and a great meal solution when I am pressed for time.
But a tarka dal is only a generic term for yellow or red lentils cooked with turmeric and tempered with a final addition of seeds and spices fried in hot oil or ghee — the tarka — to give it a simple but elegant finish. Toor dal (split pigeon peas), chana dal (split black chickpeas) and masoor dal (red lentils) are the most commonly used and all are cooked until creamy before the tempering. The variations of seeds and spices in the tarka or the additions of other ingredients like chilies, onion and ginger mean that there are countless ways of preparing a tarka dal.
This tarka dal uses all three of the dals that can typically be found in this dish, and features a delicious assortment of both hot and aromatic seeds and spices. What makes this tarka dal different than many is the use of a small piece of burning charcoal added for a few minutes in a bowl that is placed in the pot where the dals are cooking. This technique adds a fragrant and tantalizing smokiness to the dish that enhances all of the other flavors and will leave your diners craving more.
You can skip the smoking technique and you'll still have a fine tarka dal to serve along with some Indian flat breads or hot fesh cooked rice. Although it won't have that unique smokiness that only the charcoal touch provides, there will still be some smoky flavor from the ghee and the final addition of the fried tarka at the end of the cooking time.
Smoky Mixed Dal Tarka |
Recipe by Lisa Turner Cuisine: Indian Published on May 14, 2019 Spicy split pea and lentil curry with an intense smoky ghee flavor Print this recipe Ingredients:
Tarka (tempering):
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Other dal recipes to try from Lisa's Kitchen:
Creamy Mung Dal Curry
Simple Lemon Dal
Indian-Style Yellow Split Pea Curry (Matar Dal)
Mixed Lentil Dal
Urad Dal with Spices
Audio accompaniment: Purl - Stillpoint
This is my contribution to My Legume Love Affair, a popular monthly event featuring the goodness of legumes, started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook, administered by me since 2013, and kindly hosted each month by different bloggers. A special thanks to Renu for hosting the May edition. For details and to participate, you can see her announcement post here.
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