If you look up recipes for dal on the internet, you’ll find hundreds. Maybe more. They all vary in details, like which spices were used, how much of each, when they were added, etc. Partly this is because India is a big country, with many distinct cuisines from different parts of the country. So dal cooked in the north won’t be the same as dal cooked in the south, or west, or east. Even within a region, there are dozens of variations. Mughlai style food uses a lot of different spices, but not a lot of each. South Indian food might use fewer spices, but some of them will be pretty strong – enough red-hot chilis, for example, to burn your mouth.

So this is my distillation of many such recipes that I have tried. I’ve stuck to what I consider are essential spices – those which I’d definitely notice a lack of, in the finished product. At the end, I’ve provided a short list of what else some people add to dal.

Which Lentils?

First, get the right sort of lentils. There are lots of different legumes or “pulses” eaten in India. While cooking methods for each are similar, they are not exactly the same. This recipe is for brown lentils (whole, not split), commonly known as “masoor” in India.

Brown lentils are very easy to find in most American supermarkets, but be aware they are not exactly the same as Indian brown lentils. Indian lentils are generally smaller in size, more rounded and less flat. They may look darker, though the darkness of supermarket lentils is variable, from greenish to reddish to brownish. Indian lentils have a much richer and more robust flavor.

Comparison of Indian and American Brown Lentils

Brown lentils can be found in Indian grocery stores, where they are known as “masoor dal”. Whole brown lentils, like in the picture above, are sometimes labeled “matki masoor”. It’s worth it to get the real thing and not the supermarket imitation. There really is a difference.

Ingredients and Method

This is a “tempered” dal, meaning, the dal is cooked in two separate stages, which are combined at the end. The purpose of tempering is to keep the butter and fat-soluble spices separate from the rest of the stuff, and cook them for a much shorter time, so the volatile oils in the spices mix in with the butter, and don’t disappear or acquire an off flavor due to the longer cooking time of the dal itself.

Take 1 cup of lentils (dry volume), and soak in 5-6 cups of cold water for about an hour. Then wash the lentils thoroughly in cold water.

In a large pot, add the following:

- the pre-soaked, washed lentils from the step above
- cold water – 4 cups
- turmeric powder – 1 heaped teaspoon
- amchoor powder (dried green mango) – 1 level teaspoon
- garlic – 3-4 cloves, peeled and crushed
- onion – 1 small onion, chopped
- ginger – either 0.5 teaspoon powder, or a half inch piece fresh, crushed to a paste
- bay leaf – 1
- salt: about 1.5 teaspoons, or to taste (kosher)

Bring everything to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, cover the pot, and let it simmer for about 30 minutes to an hour, until the lentils are thoroughly cooked, but not mushy.

Meanwhile, prepare the “tempering” mixture. It will take about 10-15 minutes to prepare, so you can start working on it about 15 minutes before the lentils are cooked.

In a large frying pan, melt about 1/2 or 2/3 of a stick of butter. When the butter is hot, start adding stuff in the following order:

1. add half a teaspoon of cumin seeds, fry for about 30 seconds until the seeds start to crackle and pop and turn slightly darker. Don’t burn them.

2. add one medium chopped onion, fry it while stirring frequently, until the onion changes to a golden brown color. This is different from typical onion-frying instructions, which tell you to fry until it becomes transparent. You are not frying to extract onion flavor (it’s already there in the lentils from the other onion which you added to them). You are frying to caramelize the onions, to get the sweetish-caramelized-fried-onion flavor, so make sure they’re golden brown.

3. meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix these spices – 1 level teaspoon of red chili powder, 1 level teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 level teaspoon of ground coriander, 1 pinch of asafoetida powder. These are all dry powders, so put them in a small cup or bowl and mix them up. Then, after the onions have finished frying and turned golden brown, dump all these mixed spices into the frying pan.

4. Continue to fry for a while, stirring constantly to prevent the spices from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. At this point, you might want to turn the heat down to medium (if you had it on high while frying the onions), just to be safe. If it looks like there is any danger of burning the spices, have some water handy, and add a teaspoon or so to prevent burning. But they won’t burn if you turn the heat down to medium and stir constantly.

5. Fry until the oil starts to separate from the spice/onion mix. This can take anywhere from a minute to 5-6 minutes, depending on how hot your stove is, and whether there was any moisture from the onions remaining in the pan before you added the spices.

6. When the spices have fried, add half a cup of diced tomatoes (canned are fine). Continue to fry until the tomatoes lose their moisture and the oil starts to separate again, which could take another 5 minutes or so.

Bringing Everything Together

Now you are ready to combine the cooked lentils and the tempered spices. Remove the bay leaf from the lentils if it bothers you. Then dump the lentils (with cooking liquid and all) into the frying pan with the spices. Mix everything well. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover the frying pan with a lid, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat, and let the frying pan sit on the stove for another 5-10 minutes before serving. If you like cilantro, you can sprinkle some fresh chopped cilantro on top, just before serving.

Dal is typically served over a bed of rice, usually basmati rice in North India, or shorter/stickier rice in South India. But it can be eaten with almost anything – Indian style “roti” or “paratha”, “nan”, etc.

Other Spices

Here are a few spices that I don’t use for dal, but some other people do.

1. Cardamom and Cloves: they sort of go together, if you add one, you usually add the other as well. If you were to add these, you’d use 4-5 green cardamom pods (cracked open) and 5-6 cloves. They can be added to the spice mix which goes in the frying pan, after the onions have finished frying. They can add subtle flavors, but I think they’re more useful for other Indian dishes, and other dals. Brown lentils have a more robust, earthy flavor, and don’t really need either of these.

2. Mace (known in Indian groceries as “Javitri”). This is sort of like nutmeg (in fact, it comes from the same plant), but with a milder flavor. Again, I would probably use it for a lighter and creamier dal, not for this recipe.

3. Fenugreek (known in Indian groceries as “methi”). This is actually not a bad thing to add. It has a characteristic smell, which will be more dominant than the actual flavor. A pinch or two of fenugreek added to the spice mix won’t hurt, and may possibly improve the taste for some people. Fun fact: fenugreek has been used for millenia by people all over the world, as a galactogogue – something that increases milk production in lactating women. Unlike some folk remedies, it actually works.

4. Carom Seeds (known as “ajwain” in Indian groceries). These are more common in South Indian style dals. I never add them. They have a flavor like thyme, only more powerful. You never, ever add them directly to the food. If you use them, use a small amount (1/4 teaspoon to start with), and fry them well in oil to temper them and make them milder.

5. Black Pepper and Garam Masala – These are both added to increase the “spiciness” of the dish. I don’t add either. Black pepper makes food hotter, and this dal is plenty hot enough with the powdered red chili anyway. Garam Masala is a mix of spices, many of which are already added separately in this recipe, and not needed. If you do add either, the best way would be at the end. Do not fry either black pepper or garam masala. Instead, when you add the cooked dal to the fried onions and spice mix at the end, add both or either of these directly to the food. They don’t need to be cooked.

Some Variations

Although dal with rice is very yummy (and healthy!) and can be eaten often, sometimes you will want to vary it a bit. Fortunately, brown lentils go well with a lot of stuff, so it’s easy to vary the recipe by adding something to it.

I usually add potatoes or spinach (one or the other, not both). For potatoes, use a low starch potato like yukon golds, which hold their shape after cooking. Take two medium potatoes (for the amounts in this recipe, which has 1 cup of raw lentils), peel them, and dice them into fairly small pieces. Add them directly to the lentils at the start, and cook along with them.

If you’re using spinach, take a pound of leaf or chopped spinach, and cook it along with the lentils. You might think that this is overcooking the spinach, since the lentils can easily cook for 45 minutes or an hour before they are done, while this is way too long for spinach. But remember, this is an Indian dish, and the purpose of the spinach is mainly to thicken the dal gravy and impart a flavor, so it works well this way.

How to Eat Dal

Most Indians eat dal with rice (preferably basmati), and that’s probably my favorite way to eat it as well. However, dal is very versatile, and there are plenty of other uses:

1. With bread, in a sandwich. If you have a sandwich grilling machine, leftover dal makes an excellent grilled sandwich. Take 2 slices of bread, butter each on one side, and put some dal in the middle (non-buttered side). Grill in a sandwich maker, or frying pan.

2. In salads. Cold dal goes great with salads. Just make sure it’s not watery, and that you adjust the amount based on the spiciness. You don’t want it overwhelming the salad.

3. With pasta. If I have leftover dal, I sometimes make a pasta sauce out of it. Warm the dal in a frying pan over medium heat. The dal should be fairly dry, so drain it first if it’s too watery. Add about a cup of sour cream per cup of cooked dal, stir until everything is well mixed and warm. Great with shell pasta or macaroni.

Finally, a note on the consistency of dal. If you follow the recipe exactly as described, you’ll have some water in the dal at the end. Remember, dal thickens when it stands, so you’ll end up with less water than you can see at the end of cooking.

This is actually perfect, if you’re planning to eat the dal with rice. Since rice is also dry, the moisture in the dal is a welcome addition. However, if you want to make a grilled sandwich out of the dal, or add it to pasta or salads, you might want drier dal. You can do this in two ways, either reduce the water in the recipe by up to one cup, or else take the lid off the pot during the final 10 minutes of cooking, and let some of the water evaporate. I prefer the second method, but it’s up to you.

I am a fairly good cook now, but I prefer recipes that need little kitchen time and few ingredients. I don’t care if it takes 4 hours to cook, so long as I don’t have to spend more than 10 minutes in the kitchen. So in this blog I only write about stuff that is easy to make and doesn’t require a large commitment. Here’s my recipe for pork/rice with paprika. This is easily a main course for any meal.

Ingredients

• pork tenderloin: 2 pounds, defrosted
• rice: 1.5 cups, extra long grain, preferably basmati
• powdered paprika: about 2 heaped teaspoons
• powdered cumin: 1 teaspoon
• garlic powder: half a teaspoon
• ginger powder: half a teaspoon
• freshly cracked black pepper: half a teaspoon
• salt: to taste (I usually add 1-1.5 teaspoons)
• 2-3 medium onions, chopped
• 2-3 large green bell peppers, seeds removed, and chopped
• a couple teaspoons of oil: olive oil or canola
• 1 – 1.5 sticks of butter

Method

Start by turning on the oven to 450 degrees, and let the rice soak in a large pot with at least 2 inches of cold water covering it.

In a small bowl, mix all the dry spices and salt. Add enough oil to make a paste. Canola oil is best because of the high oven temperature, though you can use olive oil if you wish. Wash the pork tenderloins in cold running water, pat them completely dry with paper towels. Usually, tenderloins are sold in pairs, so a 2 pound package will have 2 tenderloins of approximately 1 pound each.

Put them in a roasting pan, and spoon the spice/oil mixture over them carefully. Spread the spice/oil paste until it completely covers the surface of the meat, making sure to baste both sides. Then adjust the tenderloins in the roasting pan so that they are about an inch apart, and the fat side is up. Pork tenderloins have very little fat, but they have a silvery membrane with a tiny bit of fat in it. You don’t have to remove the membrane, just put them with whichever side has more of the silvery stuff facing up. Make sure the tenderloins aren’t poking over the edge of the pan – if they are too long for the pan, fold the thinner end under itself so they fit within the pan.

After the oven has preheated to 450 F (the amount of time this can take varies with the oven, it will be at least 15 minutes if not more), put the pan with the tenderloins on a rack in the center of the oven, uncovered. Set the timer for 15 minutes at 450 F, to give the meat time to brown. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 250 F. Continue cooking until the internal temperature of the meat reaches about 150 F. This usually takes about an hour at 250 F (not counting the first 15 minutes at 450 F). Don’t cook any longer than an hour at 250 F, or the tenderloins will dry out — remember, tenderloins have very little fat and can easily get dry if you overcook them. After they have cooked, remove the pan from the oven and let it sit on a counter for at least 15 minutes before messing with it any further.

While the tenderloins are cooking, cook the rice. Make sure it’s soaked for at least 30 minutes (45 minutes is better). Then wash the rice in 2-3 changes of cold water. Drain the water, then add a measured 2 cups of cold water to it. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and let it cook for 25 minutes. After it’s cooked, remove it from the stove and let it cool down – with the lid on. Do not remove the lid to speed up cooling. It should be allowed to cool for at least 15 minutes before it’s used further.

Melt the butter in a large skillet (has to be large, eventually the rice will be dumped here as well, later in the recipe). Add the chopped onions and chopped green bell peppers, and let them fry in the hot butter until they are slightly brown.

At this point, you could add other spices to the frying onions if you wished. I sometimes add crushed dry red pepper, and some Indian spices, but they are not necessary.

If you time things right, the onions and peppers will finish frying about 15 minutes after the pork tenderloins are done and the rice is cooked. It’s important that both the tenderloins and the rice be allowed to cool on a counter for at least 15 minutes after removing from the stove or oven, before you use them further in the recipe.

Cut the tenderloins into small cubes (I prefer them really small, like quarter-inch cubes), and toss them in the pot with the onions and green peppers. There will be some fat that has drained out into the roasting pan. It’s not a lot, and it’s very flavorful. If you like, you can drain this fat directly into the skillet with the onions as well. If you’re trying to cut down on fat, oh well, don’t bother. Stir everything around for a minute or two.

Finally, dump the rice into the skillet. Turn the heat down to medium-low, stir occasionally to mix the rice in with the meat and fried onions/peppers/spices. The goal is the mix everything thoroughly, to coat the rice grains with butter from the pan so they don’t stick together. It’s now ready to serve.

Just before serving, I like to make a final check on the salt. If you had about 1.5 teaspoons of salt in the original spice rub used for the meat, and if you didn’t toss the liquid that drained out into the roasting pan, but added it to the skillet along with the rice, then you should have enough salt in the prepared dish. But if you tossed the roasting liquid or didn’t have enough salt to begin with, you might want to add a bit more to the skillet at this time. At any rate, you must check for salt before serving, very likely it will need some adjustment. The easiest way to ruin a dish, specially a meat dish, is to not have enough salt. Salt brings out the flavors in meat. I also add some chopped cilantro right before serving, but that’s optional. Mix it all up and serve hot.

Makes about 3-4 servings for hungry adult males. More, if you’re a girl.

Notes

This is very much “comfort food”, which I identify as basically any form of meat (roasted is more “comforty”) plus a starch, suitably salted. The starch could be rice or potatoes, both have their uses. This sort of food has a very primal appeal to our taste buds, possibly going back to when our ancestors first discovered the miracle of cooking, roasting meats and roots at their campfires. Onions and garlic and their botanical kin were probably among the first flavors to be added to food. This is an extra dimension that food holds for me, to be able to use it as a means to relate to our ancestors, to see and smell and taste what they did. Historical food has the same attraction, which is why I sometimes try out historical recipes from Roman times, or medieval food.

Like most stuff with spices, this can be easily refrigerated. If you are cooking for one, simply divide it up into portions in ziplock bags. It easily lasts 2-4 days in the refrigerator. Just nuke it in a microwave before serving.

Learning how to add salt is one of the earliest cooking skills that needs to be mastered. Unless you are following a recipe exactly, you’ll have to make a decision about how much salt to add. This is not a trivial decision; it’s one of the most important things you can do to enhance or ruin the flavor of food.

There is no exact science to it. Use good salt. Iodized salt sucks. I prefer kosher salt for general use, sea salt for specific recipes. Start by tasting whatever you intend to salt, to get a “baseline flavor”. Add salt sparingly, in steps. You can always add more, but taking it away is harder. Don’t dump it on to one spot in the food, sprinkle it evenly across all the food, then mix thoroughly and taste it. Does it taste better than the “baseline” taste? How does it taste different? You sort of have to learn this for yourself, because no one can explain to anyone else what “properly salted” ought to taste like. You have to experience it yourself. Adding salt in steps, a little bit at a time, then checking the taste, is the surest way to learn. After some time, you’ll be able to taste the food once, eyeball the amount of food, and know how much salt to add without measuring a damn thing. But it takes a little bit of practice. To me, the ideal amount of salt is that which makes the food just short of salty. Meaning, I shouldn’t be able to taste the salt specifically (unless I’m eating potato chips), but the flavors in the food should be maximally developed by the salt. You may prefer a bit more, but you will very likely not prefer less. Just experiment a bit and see what you like.