Chana dal and fenugreek leaves

"What's for dinner?"  "Dal, darl!" - goes the happy refrain in our house.  From the classic red lentils to more obscure pigeon peas and black-eyed beans, spiked with tamarind or infused with cardamom, we love dal in every incarnation.  The pulses used for dal can be divided into roughly 3 groups - split and husked, merely split, or whole.  The flavour and texture of the different dals are totally different, and their processing also affects their nutritional value - the less husking or splitting, the more fibre.

You may not know that red lentils are actually the brown ones with the skins removed, or that urad dal, a husked white lentil used in South Indian seasonings, actually has a black skin when whole.  It's so hard to choose a favourite, but if I had to, it would be chana dal or Bengal gram.  These look like yellow split peas but are totally different - they are actually husked and split kala chana or Indian "black" chickpeas.  They hold their shape when cooked and have a fabulous nutty flavour.

I want to share with you this easy and delicious chana dal recipe.  It includes a very authentic Indian touch, which is the addition of dried fenugreek leaves or kasuri methi.  These are not widely used in the non-Indian community here in Australia, but they are just delicious.  Fenugreek has a very strong, distinctive, "curry" flavour and is often over-used in commercial curry powders.  Its brown, diamond-shaped seeds are used either whole or ground, from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka, while its green leaves are used fresh like spinach or dried as a seasoning.

Chana dal with capsicum
Adapted from Mona Verma, The Ultimate Dal Cookbook, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2004.

Ingredients

1 cup chana dal
1/4 tsp + 1 pinch ground turmeric
1 tsp + 1 pinch salt
2 Tb + 2 Tb oil
2 medium capsicums, chopped into 3 cm x 3 cm pieces
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped or 1/2 425g tin chopped tomatoes or 3/4 cup passata
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (or to taste)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tb tamarind paste (or to taste) - click the link for how to make it
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves (or to taste)
2 Tb finely chopped coriander (optional)

Wash the dal in several changes of water and soak in water for a minimum of 2 hours.  Drain and rinse well.  Place in a pan with 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt, and 2 cups water.  Bring to the boil and simmer until dal is tender, about 20-30 minutes.  Do not drain.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat 2 Tb oil in a pan and add capsicum and a pinch each of salt and turmeric.  Fry for a few minutes then add tomato (if using passata, do not add just yet).  Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes then remove from pan.

Heat another 2 Tb oil in the pan and add garlic, ginger, and green chilli.  Cook whilst stirring for 1-2 minutes.

Add chana dal, garam masala, and cumin, and cook for a few minutes.  Add tamarind, sugar, fenugreek leaves, and capsicum and tomatoes (if using passata, you may add it now).  Cook for about 7-8 minutes.  Taste and check seasoning.  Garnish with coriander leaves, if using.

One of my all-time favourites.  The fenugreek leaves give a certain je ne sais quoi to the finished dish, and the tamarind and sugar make it sweet and tangy, rounding out the warm green chilli undertones.  Incidentally, husked lentils such as these freeze much better than those with skins, as the skins do toughen slightly after freezing and defrosting.  Happy cooking!

Shelf Gleaning - Berbere

Ethiopian cuisine - bright splots of spicy wats on round, tangy injera bread.  As pretty as a painter's palette.  For a while, though, it was a "restaurant-only" thing for me.  I had it in the "do not attempt" pile, along with making filo pastry from scratch or deboning a chicken.  There was no particular reason, only ignorance.  The lovely Bianca changed all that by surprising me one day with my first tubs of berbere and niter kibbeh, from Mama Rosina's in Footscray.  Now, Ethiopian is as easy as whipping out my trusty Old El Paso taco kit!

Berbere is a brick-red spice combination that is arguably the foundation of Ethiopian cuisine.  Blends are individual, but feature chillies or paprika, fenugreek, and warming spices such as cloves and black pepper.  The spice mix may be dry or made in to a smooth paste with the addition of onions and garlic.  Mesnoy sell the paste for $40/kg and have 500g tubs in their fridge.  Their blend is not particularly hot, which means you can add a lot, without scaring the children.

I regularly cook Misir Wat (red lentil dal) with berbere, and an accompanying Tikil Gomen (fried cabbage, carrot, and green chilli).  I based my recipes on those from Rachel's lovely blog, The Berbere Diaries.

Misir Wat

1 cup red lentils
1.5 onions, chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or up to 1/2 a cup to be more authentic)
1/3 cup berbere (if you like it spicy, like me!)
3 tomatoes, chopped (I use from a can; you could use fresh, but remove the skins)
2 cups water
1/4 cup finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped ginger

Wash the lentils very well in several changes of water.

Fry the onions over medium heat for around 10-15 minutes without any oil. (This is the traditional method - they won't burn as long as you keep the heat to medium, rather they will cook in their own juices.)

Add the oil and cook for a few minutes.  Add the berbere and cook well for 5-7 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and lentils, and mix well.  Add the water, bring to the boil, and simmer for around 20 minutes until the lentils are cooked and the wat is thick.

Add ginger and garlic and cook for 5 minutes more.  Serve on top of injera.

Coming up, wat's wat on niter kibbeh - a spiced clarified butter that is used to make many other traditional Ethiopian recipes.

Shelf Gleaning - Curry leaves

Until I went to India, I thought all Indian food was served in twee copper pots, perhaps warmed by a tea light underneath.  A genuine Indian restaurant had to feature smoky glass, gold bas-relief pictures of elephants, and salmon-colored napery.  Sitar music would jangle while we spooned heavy, creamy curries onto our cold plates, and the saloon-style door to the kitchen would swing open sporadically, revealing a turbaned, mustachioed chef plunging skewers of meat into the tandoor.

Within a few days of arriving in Bangalore, south India, my preconceptions were happily turned on their head.  We ate in cafes where the open or nonexistent windows let the sounds and smells of the street dance and waft around our table.  A banana leaf was our plate, heaped with rice and simple, honest vegetable dishes.  A server would wander from table to table with a large silver bucket and ladle, dispensing aromatic, simple, delicious dal to all who nodded.

South Indian food is very different from its north Indian counterpart.  I do enjoy both, but for me, the food of the south has a particular honesty and simplicity.  I suppose you could liken the food of the north to French cuisine, with its multiple layers of flavour and intricately built sauces, while southern Indian cuisine resembles that of Italy, relying on a few simple aromatics and good basic produce.

Smell is the most evocative of our senses, and the tannic aroma of fresh curry leaves popping in hot oil transports me back to Bangalore.  These glossy green leaves are used in south Indian and Sri Lankan cooking, as well as that of Malaysia and Fiji.  You can buy them for around $2 from many Indian grocers here in Footscray and elsewhere.  Locally, try Arjuna's, Bharat Traders, or India Impex.  They will either be on the counter or in the fridge in small, unlabelled plastic bags.  Keep them in the crisper, or in the freezer for long-term storage.  I buy fresh to treat myself, but always have a store of dried - these can be found in the dried spices section.

Simple dal with curry leaves

1 c red lentils, a.k.a. masoor dal or Egyptian lentils ("Masoor" is from "Misr", meaning "Egypt" in Arabic)
1 can tomatoes, either chopped or puréed in blender
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt


Tempering:
2 Tb oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 curry leaves (fresh or dried)
Dried chilli flakes, to taste

Wash dal well in several changes of water.  Place in a pot with 1.5 cups water, turmeric and salt. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.  You may need to add more water if it starts to dry out.

Heat oil for tempering in a small frying pan.  Toss in mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garlic, curry leaves and chilli flakes.  Fry for a few seconds then tip into simmering dal.

Cook for 5 more minutes before serving with fresh yoghurt and optional chopped coriander.

Adapted from The Ultimate Dal Cookbook by Mona Verma