CURRY TARKA DHAL

TARKA DHAL

One of my favourite dhals, I love the depth of flavour you get from adding the tarka, a crispy nutty ghee fried garlic, fresh coriander and garam masala mix at the end of the cooking, it really does make all the difference from a plain dhal to a sumptuous dish.  I like to scoop this dhal up with ghee loaded parathas, they are basically a chapati that has been folded and painted with ghee several times which renders them flaky and buttery when cooked, just perfect with this rich dhal

TARKA DHAL

Ingredients

(serves 2-4)

The Dhal

1 cup of red lentils soaked

6 cups of water

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp mild curry powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp coriander stalks finely chopped

The Tarka

8 fat cloves garlic sliced

1 small onion finely diced

1 tbsp ghee

1 small bunch coriander roughly chopped

1/2 tsp garam masala 

1 red chilli finely diced optional

Sea salt to taste if needed

1.  Drain the lentils and place in a deep saucepan with the water and sea salt, bring to a simmer, pop on a lid and turn down to a low simmer and leave to cook for around 30 minutes, the lentils may need as much as 40 minutes, you are looking for a thick soft texture where all the lentils have cooked down and created a lovely dhal.

2.  In a frying pan heat the ghee and gently fry the garlic until nutty brown, remove from the ghee and leave to one side while you next add the onion and fry until softened, add the garam masala, cumin turmeric mix well add back the garlic along with the chilli if using.

3.  Add the tarka to the dal and stir in along with the fresh coriander and serve with some parathas for dipping scooping and stuffing.