Tarka Dal

**Jubes**'s Note:

A recipe given to me by a workmate. A good vegetarian dish. The lentils need to soak for 30 minutes prior to cooking- so soak them and then move on with recipe preparation (If you dont have ghee- use some more vege oil in preference to butter)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 cups channa split lentils or 2 cups yellow split peas
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons ginger, finely grated
• 10 fresh curry leaves
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup raw cashews, finely ground (cashew meal)
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 45 g ghee
• 1/2 cup pouring cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander (as garnish)

Directions:

1. Rinse lentils in a strainer using cold water. Pick-over and discard any bad looking lentils. Then place them in a bowl and cover with cold water to soak for half an hour.Drain in the strainer and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large frypan over a medium heat. Add half the mustard seeds and half the cumin seeds. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes until they start popping.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, curry leaves and half the onion. Stir until soft- about 8 minutes.
4. Add the tomato, cashews, turmeric, garam marsala, ground chilli, ground coriander and the vegetable stock. Stir occasionally until thick- roughly 5 minutes.
5. Add lentils and enough water to cover the lentils (about 1.5 litres). Bring to the boil and then reduce heat to low. Stir occasionally until the lentils are cooked through and tender - about 1/2 hour.
6. In a seperate pan- heat the ghee and add the remaining spices. Stir for a couple of minutes, until fragrant. Add the remaining onion and stir until the onion is golden.
7. Combine the onion mix with the lentil mix.
8. Add the cream bring to the boil.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. To serve sprinkle chopped coriander over the top.

Reviews

[Tea Girl]

It is a very good recipe and rather authentic, just as good, if not better than from an Indian restaurant. It was a bit too much for us, I made for my DH, a friend and myself and there is a least about second time for all of us so I will half it next time.

I made it with yogurt rather than cream because I discovered that the creme I had in the fridge had gone bad, but it was even really good with the yogurt and probably will do it with that again to cut down on fat. I used dry curry leaves because I am not aware of anywhere that has fresh curry leaves here, but I don't think that this impacted the flavour as I could taste it just fine. Thanks for sharing! Made for ZWT 8!

[abanium]

I'm really pleased with this recipe. The steps are easy to follow, and the result is pretty authentic.

I just substituted garam masala (as didn't have any) for Madras curry powder, which seemed to work well.

It's a large serving, so could probably be easily halved if needed.

[Kiwi Kathy]

Made and enjoyed for Aussie / Kiwi 34 Recipe Swap Nov 09. I had to use dried curry leaves rather than fresh, but I don't think that mattered.