Dhal Curry

1 cup of toor dal (or spelled tur, yellowish dal)
1 or 2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
oil for frying
2 garlic pieces
1 tsp grated garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 cup freshly chopped coriander leaves

Wash the dried dal well and remove any stones that might be in the packet. Soak it for at least 30 minutes, until it swells to double the original size. Pour off the water, then place it into a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups of warm water, a 1/2 tsp of oil and 1/2 tsp of the turmeric to the dal. Close the pressure cooker and cook on high heat until the cooker whistles. (this dal can be very frothy, so sometimes leaks out of the nozzle) When the cooker whistles, turn the stove down to low heat and allow the dal to cook for 10 minutes. Allow the cooker to cool naturally.

After opening the cooker, use a large spoon or ladle to stir the dal and break it up to a uniform consistency.

In another pan, heat about 1/4 cup of oil until hot. Sprinkle in mustard seed and cumin seeds. They'll start to pop out immediately, so add in your thinly sliced onions and 2 pieces of garlic. cook these until they are translucent or almost turning brown. Add in the ginger and garlic paste and stir continuously so it doesn't stick to the pan. Cook for one minute, then add in spice powders. Again, stir continuously, adding in a tablespoon of water at a time so that the spices don't burn. After heating the spices for 1 minute, turn off the stove and transfer this onion/spice mixture into the dal. Stir well, season with salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.

With this method, you can also vary the dal by adding in finely chopped spinach or 2-3 tomatoes.




Another method would be to use all of the ingredients listed above, but cook them only in the pressure cooker.

You'd start frying everything in the pressure cooker, adding in spices, etc then put in the dry dal and cook as above. 

Dal thickens in the fridge, so you can just add a bit of hot water to leftovers to get the consistency that you like.

And, the thickness of the dal depends partly on culture (e.g. which part of the Indian subcontinent) and partly on what it is eaten with. For example, some of the runnier dals are eaten with rice, while thicker dal is eaten with roti. In West Bengal, you'll find meat added into dal or very runny yellow dal, while in Pakistan you'll find thick dal (not toor dal) served with chapatis or rotis.


by Farasha