Tarka dal recipe
There are many versions of this north Indian dish, as the name literally means spiced, flavoured lentils. You can also use red lentils for this recipe. There are several Indian words, such as tarka, tadka, vaghaar or phodni, for this essential procedure of tempering foods. Spices or ingredients, such as tomatoes, garlic, ginger or chillies, are cooked in hot oil to extract and develop their flavour.
Tempering can be done at the beginning of cooking, where for example, spices and onions are cooked before adding the main ingredient, or at the end, when for example, cumin seeds may be fried in oil and poured over a curry. The oil contains the aromatic oils extracted from the spices and becomes ‘flavoured’ itself.
Tip: you can store the ginger-garlic paste in the fridge if you decide to make a batch. Put it into a clean jam jar, top it up with oil (any cooking oil) and put it in the fridge. It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. You will find that the oil layer may decrease with each scoop of paste used – just top it up as necessary.
Ingredients
For the ginger-garlic paste- 1 part fresh ginger, skin scraped off and flesh chopped
- 2 parts garlic, peeled and chopped (by volume)
- 200 g mung lentils
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
- 2 fresh green chillies, slit in half lengthways and stalks left on
- 2 tomatoes diced (seeds and all)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 handful of fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
Details
- Cuisine: Indian
- Recipe Type: Lentils
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 35 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- First make the ginger-garlic paste. If you are making a small amount, you can grate both or crush them using a mortar and pestle. You don’t need to discard the green ‘soul’ from the centre of the garlic; it is edible and any bitterness it has will add to the balance of flavours in the overall dish. If making a larger amount, blitz the peeled and chopped ginger and garlic in a blender, along with a little cold water to turn the blades and make a smooth paste.
- Wash the lentils in a sieve under running cold water until the water runs clear. Put them into a heavy-based saucepan and then pour double the quantity of boiling water over them (don’t salt the lentils at this stage, as they can take longer to cook if you do).
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until very soft, about 30 minutes, adding more boiling water as they absorb what’s in the pan. Ensure that the lentils are submerged at all times. When the lentils are cooked, they should have completely disintegrated and should resemble oat porridge.
- Meanwhile, warm the sunflower oil in a separate pan on a high heat and add the cumin seeds. As they begin to crackle and change colour, add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 30 seconds, then add the chillies and cook for a further few seconds.
- Tip in the tomatoes and cook for 3–4 minutes until soft.
- Stir in the turmeric and garam masala, add a little cold water and bring to a bubble.
- Carefully pour in the cooked lentils, along with all the cooking liquid (no need to drain) and season with salt. The mixture should have a pouring consistency.
- Sprinkle the chopped coriander over, and serve hot with plain boiled rice or rotis.
This recipe is from Indian in 7 by Monisha Bharadwaj. Published by Kyle Books, £17.99.
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