Yeshi's dal

Some dals are hugely labour intensive and take an age to make. This one is a Taste Tibet crowd favourite, and it’s incredibly easy to reproduce at home

Credit: Ola O. Smit

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

You should be able to find mung dal in any good Indian corner shop or larger supermarket. Just make sure you get yellow split mung beans and not the whole beans – these have a green skin and take a lot longer to cook. If you can’t find mung dal, yellow split peas or even red lentils make a great dal too. The same instructions apply, but note that the cooking time will be a little longer for yellow split peas.

Ingredients

• 300 g (1⅓ cups) mung dal
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp Bassar curry masala (or hot chilli powder)
• 70 g (1½ cups) baby spinach leaves

Instructions

1. Put the mung dal into a mixing bowl and wash it thoroughly, then drain well.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat and add the cumin seeds. When they start popping, add the garlic and stir for about a minute, then throw in the onion and cook for a further minute. Stir in the tomatoes, turmeric, salt and curry masala and keep cooking until the onions and tomatoes have softened, about 3–4 minutes.
3. Now add the dal to the pan, using a little boiling water to rinse out any grains stuck inside the bowl. Stir the dal through the mixture for 3–4 minutes, then pour in 1 litre (4 cups) of boiling water and turn the heat down to medium. Cover and cook for 30–35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. When the dal is cooked, add the baby spinach and stir it through. If you like your dal runny, you might like to add some more boiling water at this point too – about 200 ml (7 fl oz) should do it. When the spinach has wilted, ladle the dal into a serving bowl.

 

Recipe and image from Taste Tibet by Julie Kleeman and Yeshi Jampa, Murdoch Books, RRP $49.99.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

You should be able to find mung dal in any good Indian corner shop or larger supermarket. Just make sure you get yellow split mung beans and not the whole beans – these have a green skin and take a lot longer to cook. If you can’t find mung dal, yellow split peas or even red lentils make a great dal too. The same instructions apply, but note that the cooking time will be a little longer for yellow split peas.