Simple Tarka dahl recipe for one
Cyrus Todiwala MBE, Executive Chef of top Indian restaurant Café Spice gave his recipe for creating a simple tarka dahl for one. You can multiply ingredients for additional servings.
Cyrus says: "A good dahl will have both the split red lentil and the yellow lentil in it. The split red lentil is a bit bland on its own, but the flavour is much better when blended with yellow lentils."
Ingredients
50g Split red lentil (Masur)
50g Yellow lentil (Toor)
Tarka
Tumeric powder
Butter
Cumin seeds
Garlic
Green chilli
1) 100g of lentils will be enough for yourself. Wash them in the morning until the water goes clear and there is two inches of water on top. Leave it for the day covered with a wet cloth.
2) In the evening, bring the lentils and water to the boil. Remove the scum that appears at the top.
3) Add a little bit of tumeric powder - quarter to half a teaspoon - and a small blob of butter (we don't use gee for this).
4) Once it's cooked, just crush it down with a spoon or whisk. You can puree it if you want to, but there is no need - this is the dahl.
5) In another bowl, mix a cube of garlic chopped up, half a tea-spoon of cumin seeds.
6) Heat some oil in a pan and melt some butter into it. Add the cumin and garlic mixture to it.
7) When the garlic changes colour, put in one green chilli (or half a red chilli) snipped into pieces. This creates the tarka.
8) Mix the tarka into your dahl. Then season it to your liking and enjoy.