Lentil Curry (Dhal)

I was working overtime last night and was relieved that I was in time to catch the season finale of My Kitchen Rules. Not to watch a cooking show with an empty stomach (that’ll be the utmost torture!), I started to look around in my kitchen for something that I can whip up in between commercials.

After a couple minutes of rifling through my overcrowded pantry, I came to the decision of making a dhal curry using red lentils. Although it may not be the authentic way (I think it calls for yellow/brown split peas), I just love that these lentils do not require soaking overnight and they soften considerably fast when cooking.

{My masterpiece? Not exactly, but I was imagining myself as one of the participants in the hit show – My Kitchen Rules (Australia) after dinner.}

Lentil Curry (Dhal)

(A fuss free cooking recipe)

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

2 cups of red lentils

1/2 brown onion chopped or 2 shallots sliced thinly

2cm ginger and 1 clove of garlic crushed (or alternatively 1 1/2 tsp of garlic & 1/2 tsp of ginger paste from the jar)

1 tsp of each cumin seeds and mustard seeds

1/2 green chili

3 tsp of turmeric powder

1 tsp of each cumin powder, coriander powder

2 curry leaves

1 tbsp of tomato paste

chopped coriander for garnish

Method:

1. Rinse the lentils with water until the water becomes clear.

2. In a medium sized pot, add about 3 cups of boiling water and turmeric powder into the washed lentils and let them simmer until boiling point on medium heat. Once it has reached boiling point, reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer until soften (just make sure the lentils are not too mushy).

(Tip: Add more water if the lentils have absorbed the water, don’t worry about adding too much water. As soon as the lentils are soften, and there are still too much liquid, pour the excess water away to your desirable consistency).

3. In the meantime, fry the onions together with the seeds and curry leaves on a pan until the onions turn brown.

4. Add ginger and garlic paste, green chili, remaining spices and tomato paste and continue frying until aromatic.

5. When the lentils are soften, add the fried mixture into the lentils and stir well. Let it simmer for further 10 minutes.

6. Last but not least, add the chopped coriander.

This curry is perfect with indian bread like chapati/roti. But it goes just as well with rice and yoghurt.

Enjoy!

 

Lentils Curry