Recipes: dhal and curry

[figment]

Tonight, dinner is dhal, a chickpea-okra curry, rice, and some homemade chutney. arvedui, I thought you'd like to have these recipes, and maybe someone else would too.

Dhal
Fry in 2 T oil until golden brown:
1 onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t turmeric
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1 t ginger root, finely grated (or very finely chopped)
1/4 t ground cardamom (or 2 cardamom pods if you don't have ground)
Add:
1 C dried lentils
3 C hot water
1 t salt or to taste
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove cover and simmer over very low heat, stirring frequently, about 20 more minutes, until lentils are mushy and thick, about the consistency of refried beans. Garnish with onions, thinly sliced and browned, or a squeeze of lemon. Serve with rice.

From Extending the Table, an excellent cookbook.


Chickpea Curry
Cover with water and soak overnight:
1 C dried chick-peas
Drain and rinse.
Put in heavy saucepan, slow cooker, or pressure cooker:
soaked chick-peas
just enough water to cover
2 t salt
2 bay leaves
Cook until tender.
*note: You can follow the recipe if you start with dried chickpeas, or if you're in a hurry, like me, just skip all of this chickpea-cooking stuff and use a can of chickpeas, plus a bay leaf and some extra water - maybe a cup or a little more.
Heat in separate heavy saucepan:
1 T oil
Add and fry, stirring frequently, until golden:
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 t ginger root, finely chopped
Add:
1/2 t ground turmeric
1/2 t ground cardamom
1/4 t ground coriander
1/2 t ground cumin
Fry a few seconds.
Add:
2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped or 1 can of tomatoes
chick-peas and cooking liquid or 1 can of chick peas, 1-2 bay leaves, and 1 C water
1 fresh green chili, seeded and diced
1 T fresh mint or cilantro, chopped (optional)
Stir well. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes over low heat, until chick-peas are very tender and tomatoes are well cooked.
Add: 1 T lemon juice
Place in serving dish and garnish with fresh mint or cilantro leaves, chopped. Serve with rice, chapatis, or puris.
Tonight, I modified this even further by adding a couple of cups of chopped frozen okra about 20 minutes before the curry was supposed to be done.

This recipe is also from Extending the Table.


If the chutney-thing turns out - it's mostly mango & apricot, with a bunch of other things in it - I'll share what I can of the "recipe", or maybe I'll just give you my mom's recipe that I very loosely based it on.

Comments

[star5.livejournal.com]

it was tasty. i think it could still be better, but it was good. i added the eggplant to the onions and stuff in the beginning and let them brown a little with the onions. they didn't get quite brown, but they were tasty in the end. will experiment more. what i really want to learn is how to make the super amazing potatoes that a lot of indian places have. just the right amount of doneness. i'm guessing it's cooking it for a long time over low heat.. but maybe there's more to it than that?

[birdfigment.livejournal.com]

If I find any good potato recipes, I'll be sure to post 'em!