Toor Dhal & Okra

Yum yum. I love dhal, and whilst I usually prefer the masoor variety (i.e. red lentils), I only had toor (split yellow lentils). These guys take a lot longer to cook, and have a nuttier flavour and rougher texture.

I took the opportunity to try out some of the curry powder Tara bought me back from Nepal. It was interesting - I like to fancy myself a bit of a gun when it comes to spices, but I still had some trouble dissecting what was in it.

There was definitely some tumeric, and asafoetida, cinnamon and cumin, but there was lots of other stuff in there, and buggered if I could tell what it is. Definitely a curry powder from Nepal, rather than India; there were some asiatics flavours in there for sure. Maybe a small amount of five spice?

I digress. Here's the recipe:

• three small onions, or two medium to large, diced finely.
  
• a thumb-thick pad of butter, or two dessert spoons of ghee
• at least five large cloves of garlic, sliced.
• three teaspoons of curry powder
• two teaspoons of tumeric
  
• a teaspoon of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and salt,
  
• 250 grams of Toor Dhal, or so.
• a can of diced tomatoes,
• water!

Put the butter into a pot on medium heat, once it's melted throw in the onions, curry powder, spices, and salt. Stir it for five minutes, and then add the garlic. Stir for another two.

Add the dhal, and stir it up for a couple of minutes, then throw in the tomatoes, and at least 500mls of water.

Put the heat on low, and keep stirring occasionally, topping with water as it cooks. Toor dhal takes an hour and a half to cook, and it may still have a little crunch.

Okra. Mmmmm, this was great. The recipe comes from that grande dame of Indian cuisine, Madhur Jaffrey.

Personally, I don't always like Madhur's recipe, sometimes I feel she sacrifices taste for authenticity, and sometimes her methods are needlessly complicated. That all said, her knowledge of Indian cooking is parallel to none; both in history and practice. If you ever want to find out about real Indian food, buy her books. I have learned a tremendous amount from Jaffrey's books.

Okra with Onions (Sel Bhindi)

• two teaspoons of whole coriander seeds
• 1 whole, dried red chilli
• 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
• 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (bollocks, I used one, if that)
• 2 smallish onions, chopped into rings or half rings
• 340 grams fresh okra, topped and tail, and halved length-ways (and width-ways if they're big)
• fresh coriander (optional)
  

Grind or pound up the coriander seeds, chill tumeric and salt, and put aside.

Put the oil into a wok or pan on medium high, throw in the okra, and stir fry for 10 minutes or so. Don't stir it too much, we want to brown the edges here.

After that, put the onion in for five or so - again, until it's brown, then add the curry powder. Reduce the heat to low, stirring for five minutes. After which, add the fresh coriander if you want.

Done! This was really yummy.