North Indian Comfort Food: Daal Chawal

by prone-to-drift

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  1. prone-to-drift

    Recipe:

    Red football lentils (200g)

    – wash and soak the lentils for 15ish minutes.
    – add 800ml water and soaked lentils to a pot. Use a pressure cooker/instant pot preferably.
    – add salt to taste and a green chilli.
    – cook for 10 minutes on medium heat in instant pot, or 20 minutes in an open pan.

    Tadka/tempering:

    – heat 1 teaspoon oil/ghee and take it off the heat. Perform the next steps in quick succession.
    – add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds to hot oil
    – add 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
    – add chopped curry leaves
    – add 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
    – keep stirring to ensure it doesn’t burn.
    – immediately add to cooked lentils and stir.

    At this stage, add hot water to the lentils if it’s too thick.

    Rice (100g) – cook as you like

    Onions – thinly slice, add salt and squeeze lemon juice.

    I ate this with a bit of Kimchi but traditionally, a lot of people pair this with mango pickle.

    It’s my goto comfort food, and it even prepares fast: 15 minutes of active cooking, and 15 minutes of soaking.