Thread: Tarka Dahl

I have made the acquaintance of a Brahmin caste Indian lady recently and she has schooled me in the art of the Tarka Dahl.

Here is my second effort.

My first effort was using red lentils. I think the green lentils work better as they retain their individual form after cooking. The red lentils turn to a kind of homogeneous slop. The greens also have a more earthy flavour.

Those were the first times I have ever cooked with lentils, the favourite food of Neil the long haired hippy from the Young Ones.

400g of lentils.

Boil for 7 minutes (red)/25 minutes (green)



While they are cooking fry up the following in a frying pan (yes I need to clean that frying pan!).

One chopped onion
A few cloves of garlic
3 or 4 tomatoes finely chopped
Knob of ginger finely chopped
4 chopped chillies
2 or 3 teaspoons of cumin
2 or 3 teaspoons of turmeric
2 or 3 teaspoons of garam masala
2 or 3 teaspoons of coriander



Serve with boiled rice and/or paratha roti. You can fry the roti in a pan although the instructions say oven or grill



My preferred curry beverage is milk.

You just cannot beat a good British curry!

Long live the Empire!

fcuk beans and chick peas

I get fed that crap at least once a week where I am and I only eat as there is not choice

Sterling effort

There's an Indian drink that's served with curry that's milk based.....

I quite like dahl and all it's recipes.
Toor dahl is my favourite (as a split pea variant, not a recipe), and a mix of 3-1 toor and red lentils makes for a nice textured dahl with a creamy sauce holding it together.
Shan brand dahl masala out of Pakistan is excellent.

Looks good Loops. May I suggest you experiment with the masalas. That seems like a bit heavy on the garam masala to my taste. Try making it a bit subtler.
Instead of the powders you have, try your favourite curry powder but be cautious about the quantity. A masala called Kitchen King, if you come across it, is most excellent.

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

Sterling effort

There's an Indian drink that's served with curry that's milk based.....

Lahsi. Thin yoghurt with or without mango pulp.

Ah yes! Lassie, Loopers glass of milk brought the distant memory back.
Remember it being a very sweet drink.

Originally Posted by baldrick

fcuk beans and chick peas

Agreed!

An authentic Indian Sikh curry is vegetarian.


Will she be schooling you in the art of the Kama Sutra?

Originally Posted by Looper

yes I need to clean that frying pan!

Pan stolen from Jeff, methinks.


Good effort, Looper.

You could have just bullshitted us Looper and said that the frying pan was your great grandmothers and seasoned. It has never been touched by a soap sud.

Originally Posted by Looper

a Brahmin caste Indian lady

Caste system has been abolished for many years.
The untouchables like that, no doubt, but perhaps the Brahmins not so much.

I am Tarka Dahl. Knew I' d seen it somewhere!

^ Well done. Funny how some things stick in our minds.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Lahsi. Thin yoghurt with or without mango pulp.

Go heavy with the milk and yogurt, crap restaurants will be generous with water.

Chitty: can add salt instead of sugar, or try both together, or as Manaam said mango/fruit pulp, finely grated pistachio or catch and kill. And experiment, lassi compliments everything from garam masala to cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and virtually any other powder on your shelf.

Originally Posted by jabir

lassi compliments everything from garam masala to cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and virtually any other powder on your shelf.

Which if you have the first clue will not include 'curry powder', of course.

Are you like ENT, Cy, and never use "curry powder"? Only freshly reaped saffron fillaments plucked by virgin Nepalese girls on the south side of very particular slopes of particular altitude and only within 3 days of the waxing half moon, and cummin seeds picked at midnight under the full moon, roasted over mango charcoal and stone ground, combined to milligram precision with corriander seeds grown on sea-wind blasted fields in Southern Kerala, also roasted over mango charcoal and stone ground by holy monks?

There's nothing wrong with a good curry powder if you know what a good curry powder is.

Outrageous, imagine a world without curry powder!

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

There's an Indian drink that's served with curry that's milk based...

Masala tea/Milky Tea you utter cockwomble