Dal Makhani is a King of Lentils and a favourite of restaurateurs and gourmets to the extent that the menus would not be complete without its inclusion. The recipe also varies from region to region and restaurant to restaurant. This type of dal is cooked very slowly on low heat for hours before the flavor burst and develops into intricate blend of taste coming from lentil, tomatoes and butter. They also, surprisingly taste a lot better on the second day as the flavor keeps on developing.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole urad (whole black lentils)
3 tbsp rajma (kidney beans)
Salt
1tbsp ginger-garlic paste of equal ginger and garlic
½ cup tomato puree (tinned)
1 tsp red chili powder
½ cup white unsalted butter
½ cup cream

Method:
Thoroughly wash black lentil and kidney bean separately until the water runs clear. Soak overnight preferably or 5-6 hours to facilitate even cooking of each individual grain. If you are pressure cooking lentils, cook them for 3-4 whistles on medium heat. Alternatively, put the drained lentil and kidney bean in a suitably large steel pan, add approximately 7 cups of water. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer until the grains are cooked and 2/3 rd of water is used up. Crush the lentils with the back of a wooden spoon.

In a pan heat half the butter, add ginger-garlic paste and cook until raw aroma has subsided. Add tomato puree and cook for another 5minutes on medium heat until the colour of the tomato has darkened to pronounced red. Add chili powder and cook for another minute.

Add this mixture to lentil along with rest of the butter until mixed well and cook for another 10-15 minutes until lentil has thickened and colour has become light brown. Finally add the cream and stir for another 2-3minutes. Check seasoning and serve hot with butter naan or rice.

- Kuntal

Tags: chettinad, idli, tandoori, chana, lentil, indian food, indian curry, sambhar, kebab, bhatura

Indian is truly blessed to have so many preparation attributed to lentil. Even all regions of India do boast of several of the lentil preparations on its own or as in part with other ingredients. Also known as “Dal” or “Dahl”in Hindi, it is a bushy annual plant of the legume family and grows from a foot to a small tree and grows in pod. They stand up very well to dry conditions and after harvesting also keeps up well for a very long time without significant loss of nutrients or taste. India is the largest producer and consumer of all varieties of lentil just because of the simple reason of its availability and low price.
Lentil has been the excellent source of vegetarian protein since time immemorial and plays an important dietary role. It is not only easy to digest but also can be very interesting in taste and texture when prepared variedly and correctly. Used both with and without skin, they legume family boast of so many varieties from red to green, white to black, yellow to pink. There are also the split varieties which find their way into traditional recipes especially in India.

Some of the popular lentils found in Indian cuisine are as follows:
Urad Dal (Black lentil)- without skin whole and split (white colour) whole with skin
Chana Dal (Bengal Gram)- comes from black gram which is skinned and split to obtain yellow grain.
Moong Dal (Moong lentil)- whole comes in green, without skin in yellow colour. Essential ingredient for kichdi, a food for the invalids.
Arhar dal (Yellow lentil) also known as tur dal in the western part of India and very popular menu items in Indian restaurants.
Masoor dal (Red  lentil), the whole lentil with skin is similar to beluga or puy lentil, the skinned is known as masoor dal which is the inspiration of so many lentil preparation.
These are the traditional lentil and the other being choole (chickpea), kala chana (black/horse gram) etc and I am sure that there are so many across the world along with their recipes.

The skinned grains have short cooking time when compared to the whole one and are generally boiled into stew and tempered as per the choice. They can wither be boiled in a suitably large vessel or pressure cooked to save on time. The grain bursts open during the cooking process and thickens the preparation, but if required they can be thinned with hot water.

Apart from being a very good source of protein, they also contain carbohydrate, dietary fiber and also a good source of iron and vitamin B1. The blogs to follow will be dedicated to some of the lentil which we have listed above and their recipes.

Tags: gosht, sambhar, chettinad, handi, balti, chana, tikka masala, lentil, karahi, curries

While classifying Handi cooking through the annals of Indian culinary preparation has been the recent endeavour, the cooking vessels in ancient India were mostly Handi-like made from either clay or copper. The pots are typically round thick bottomed which tapers towards the mouth to capture the steam throughout the cooking process. The process is a bit lengthy because it dwells upon the principle of slow cooking to fully develop the flavor and aroma. While  the recipe of “handi dal” vary from place to place, as tracing this recipe through the culinary journey of past years does not yield much information, the widely acceptable lentils for Handi cooking are Arhar Dal, also known as Tur dal or yellow lentil and Whole urad dal, also known as Black lentil. We will try to recreate the recipe which is a close version of what most of the restaurants do while leaving the choice of lentil to you as per your convenience. Please remember that cooking Urad dal will take longer because it contains skin for this recipe and also because it releases its creaminess through slow cooking process as evident in Dal makhni.

Ingredients:
1 cup Yellow lentil (tur/ arhar dal)
2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp chopped ginger
2 tbsp chopped garlic
3 tbsp chopped onion
½ tsp turmeric powder
3 green chili, chopped
¼ cup chopped tomato
3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp ghee/ white butter

Method:
Pick the lentils, wash in running water and keep soaked for 30minutes. This allows the lentil to hydrate and cook evenly. Place the washed lentil in handi with salt, turmeric and water (approximately 4 ½ cup), bring to boil, reduce the heat and remove the scum which surfaces on top.

Heat oil in pan, sauté until light brown, add chopped ginger and garlic and keep cooking until all the ingredients are of the same colour (light brown). Then add green chili, stir for a minute.
Add tomatoes and continue cooking until tomatoes are reduced to a pulp. Transfer the mixture to the lentil and stir. Continue cooking until lentils are cooked and of medium thick consistency.

Just before serving, stir in the ghee/ white butter and chopped coriander. Serve hot from the handi either with Indian bread or as an accompaniment for rice.

Bon Appetit !

- Kuntal

Tags: curries, naan, roti, chettinad, dal, paneer, handi, kebab, kulfi, tandoor