Easy basic Indian daal recipe
Dried Lentils – versatile, flavourful, and absolutely brilliant to cook with not to mention pocket-friendly, are an omnipresent part of my kitchen pantry. Every region of India has its own versions of lentil curries or daal’s as we refer to even the cooked version.
Made using storecupboard essentials
The skinless masoor daal or the split red lentil cooks very quickly and is a great choice for a quick dish that can be rustled up in next to no time. Perfect for busy evenings, steamed rice will cook alongside this curry and you will have a hearty and delicious meal all ready under 20 minutes.
Traditional Roots
My recipe is something I have been making for a while now and even Aai approves – which is high praise indeed. Ideally, Aai would have me cooked akkhe masoor or the whole masoor – brown with skin and whole. The recipe involves using some of our trademark ingredients like tamarind and freshly grated coconut and the result is a creamy, delicious and moreish daal that warms my soul.
Basic Indian Curry recipe for beginners
My recipe is a perfect for those getting familiar with Indian cuisine . This is one daal recipe you want in your repertoire. Adaptable and highly versatile, you can bulk up this recipe with veggies if you are cooking for fussy little ones. Everything about this recipe is user-friendly. This curry freezes well, make in batches and freeze for busy days.
Quick Split Red Lentil Curry
Ingredients
- 1 cup Red lentil washed
- 1.5 tbsp Sunflower Oil
- 1 small pinch Hing/Asafoetida
- 2-3 Kadipatta/Curry leaves
- ½ Hirvi Mirchi/ Green Chilli
- ½ tsp Mohri/ Black Mustard seeds
- ½ tsp Jeere/ cumin
- 2 cloves Lasun / Garlic with skin on
- A small piece of fresh ginger washed and roughlysliced – keep mortar pestel handy
- ½ Laal Kanda/ Large Red Onion chopped fine
- 2 tsp Garam Masala
- ½ tsp Halad/ Turmeric Powder
- 1 heaped tsp Laal Mirchi/ Red Chilli Powder
- 1 heaped tsp Dhane/Coriander Powder
- 1 small tomato chopped fine or ½ heaped tbsp canned chopped tomatoes
- Salt as per taste
- Water as per the quantity of lentils used
- Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
Instructions
- Wash the red lentils, drain and set aside
- Finely chop the red onion
- Heat oil in a pan
- Leave the skin on the garlic cloves and smash the cloves using a pestle, remove the skin from the ginger and use a mortar pestle to crush it to release all the juices.
- When the oil is hot add a pinch of asafoetida, mustard seeds and cumin, once the mustard seeds and cumin begin to pop and crackle, add the garlic, green chilli, curry leaves and the ginger. Remember to use a spoon to scoop all the juice from the crushed ginger into the pan, you don't want to waste all that goregous juicy flavour
- Tip in the chopped onion, add the corinader powder, garam masala and saute until the onion turns a soft brown colour, keep stirring to ensure the onion does not burn
- Add the chopped tomatoes and mix well, then reduce the flame and add the washed red lentil
- Add enough water, cover and cook until done
- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves just before turning off the gas
- Serve with steamed pressure cooked rice, always top with a nice blop of puree ghee, a nice cucumber raita will complete the meal
Learn how to make Indian food from scratch with my easy to follow recipes
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As part of our #LockdownRecipes, I cooked this live on Instagram and have it saved on my IGTV – do go and have a look, please let me know in comments if you enjoyed watching my very first IGTV video!
My friend and fellow food-blogger Heidi cooked along with me on live from her home kitchen in St.Albans and I was so happy that some of my followers cooked along too. Check out my album Lockdown recipes in my Instagram highlights to see photos of their creations.
And if you do cook to my recipe do snap a picture of your creations and use the hashtag #travelsfortasteblogrecipe and share it to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and I will re-post it.
Superb post. Your blog itself is an inspiration to create my own blog. It’s full of information and useful tips.
Thank you and regards
Thank you, Narayana for stopping by and for such a lovely comment.