Dahl and Rice – Bear Style
Many places in India, especially certain religious sites, are very generous and will feed for free any passing stranger – though helping with the washing up is a nice gesture! For obvious reasons the food is often very cheap and basic, but can be alarmingly tasty! Here is my take on a great and cheapo favourite – Dahl and Rice. I have cooked this regularly through my life, both when flush with cash or completely broke. You can go stuff your chocolate – THIS is the ultimate comfort food! As usual, I have left some of the quantities a little vague – well, you will make this better if you play around with it a little. It can be a very personal dish!
1. The Dahl
This is really the main part of the dish. For this you will need the following:
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 inch cube of ginger, grated
- your favourite curry powder or paste (I am keeping this simple)
- salt and pepper
- Chicken stock
- Ground Nut Oil
Take two saucepans. In one put the cup of lentils and 2 cups of stock. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and simmer till the lentils are mushy. The time will vary on they type of lentils – “oil Dahl” takes longer and wont go quite as mushy – but I like having some whole pieces in my dahl, to be honest! If it is getting too thick and try, add some more stock or water. It must NOT be that thin rubbish they serve in Indian restaurants, but it should not be concrete either.
In the other saucepan, fry the onions, garlic and ginger till the onions are cooked right through and very soft. Add your curry paste and cook for a few minutes more.
2. The Rice
A good time to put on the rice. 1 cup of basmati to 2 cups of cold water into a saucepan. Add 1 small teaspoon salt and bring to the boil with the lid on. When it is only just boiling, turn down to a simmer. Make sure the lid is on properly and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. And that is the rice.
1a. Back to the Dahl
To your onions and curry paste add a tin of tomatoes. You can add other veggies like peas if you like. Cook gently till the oil starts pooling on the top.
Once your dahl is cooked, take it off the heat and pour in your tomato curry. Fold it in gently – or beat the living daylights out of it if you like it smoother!
3. Eat
Put a big ladle of rice and another of dahl on a plate. Sit on the sofa, put on Casablanca, wrap your self in a blanket and open a jar of carrot pickle. Eat the Dahl, Rice and Pickle with a fork and tell everyone else to piss off.
Et, c’est ça!
PS: You can cook all of this in advance, and as people trundle through the kitchen, they can make them selves up a bowl and bung it in the microwave for a few minutes. It will still taste wonderful!
Related posts:
- Hot Lentil and Roasted Squash – The Soup Diet
- Better than Chicken Tikka Masala
- Green Curry
- Really Quick Pasta
- Arabic Lamb
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...