The
kitchen is definitely my Dad’s domain and making dhal is one of his
specialties. This is my first attempt at
making dhal and I must say it turned out pretty well. This is a great dish that
can be eaten alone or with rice or roti. You can also add other vegetables such
as okra or spinach towards the end of cooking the dhal for some added flavor.
This go around, I made mine plain.
Ingredients
1
cup green or yellow split peas
3 –
4 cups of water for soaking
4
cups water for cooking
1 small
onion chopped
1
tomato chopped
5
cloves garlic chopped
½ teaspoon
ground turmeric
½
teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon
jeera (cumin seeds)
1
bay leaf
1 teaspoon
salt
2 wiri
wiri peppers/any other hot pepper (optional)
1
tablespoon canola oil
Directions
Wash
peas and soak overnight in 3 – 4 cups of water or pour 3 – 4 cups of water over
peas and let sit for about an hour
Bring
4 cups of water to a boil and add peas
Add
onions and ½ the garlic. Reserve the rest for later
Add
the tomatoes, turmeric, curry powder, bay leaf, salt and pepper
Reduce
the heat to a simmer and cook until the split peas are soft, breaking apart and
starting to thicken slightly, about 30 - 45 minutes
Remove
bay leaf
Using
a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the peas to a smooth consistency. You can
also use an immersion blender to get the desired smoothness. I like a little
texture to mine so I use a wooden spoon or potato masher
Now
for the fun part, this is called “chunkay” and is traditionally done with a
metal ladle over an open flame. I am not that adventurous so I stuck to using a
small frying pan:
In
a small pan/metal ladle heat the canola oil over medium heat
Add
cumin seeds and toast in oil for about 1minutes (the aroma is amazing)
Add
remaining garlic and cook until garlic gets a little brown about 2 minutes
Slowly
add the contents of the pan/ladle into the cooked split peas, stir and
serve with rice, roti or even eat alone as a soup
 |
| Finished product! |
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