Urad Dal Tarka

“U” in our Ingredients Alphabet….

We’re very fortunate to have various Chinese, Polish and Continental stores reasonably local to us. The Continental store is on the way to the doctors and on our way back yesterday we popped our heads in. We’ve been looking for something to take the slot for “U” in our latest bit of food fun and this did the trick.

Urad Dal Chilka are split Black Gram Dal with skins on.

If you have a go at this recipe please note you really won’t need Rice with it. We also roasted a Chicken which certainly wasn’t needed, that’s the foundation of today's dinner. This is a very filling dish in it’s own right and has a really satisfying depth of flavour. We’ve scaled the original recipe to suit two, but they were still generous portions to say this is supposed to be a side dish.

Ingredients:-

110g Urad Dal Chilka
1/2tsp. Turmeric powder
2-3 tbsp. ghee or Sunflower Oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
2-3 whole dried Red Chillies broken up
1/2 tsp. Chilli powder
1/2 tsp. Dried Fenugreek
1 medium sized Onion, peeled and sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and shredded
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
2 tomatoes, chopped up

Method:-

(1) Wash Dal well and soak in water for half an hour. Soaking for longer will take the skin off the Dal and is not required.
(2) Drain this water off and rinse the Dal under the tap to remove excess starch.
(3) Add the Dal to a pan of boiling water with Salt and Turmeric and simmer briskly until tender.
(4) You may need to add more water, if the Dal begins to look too thick and dry. This may take 30 minutes or so.
(5) Dals, when ready, should be soft but not mashed and of a custard like consistency. Set aside.
(6) Heat the Ghee or Oil in a frying pan.
(7) Add your Cumin seeds and Fenugreek and fry gentle for a few minutes.
(8) Add whole Chillies and Chillies powder, stir quickly.
(9) Add to the cooked Dal and cover with a lid. This will infuse the flavours into the Dal.
(10) Add the chopped Onion, Ginger and Garlic.
(11) Fry until onions are beginning to turn golden brown.
(12) Add the Chilli powder, Tomatoes etc. and cooked until soft.

We served ours with home made Sag Aloe, topped the Urad Dal Tarka with a Tomato based Chilli sauce and a few Popadums.