Dal Tadka
Soft yellow lentils finished with a tempering of spices bloomed in ghee, poured over at the table.
- Prep
- 10m
- Cook
- 35m
- Total
- 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 1 cup | Rinse until the water runs clear 5m | Simmer until the lentils collapse, then whisk smooth 30m Whisk rather than blend — you want it creamy but not uniform. | Pour the sizzling tadka over the dal and cover for a minute 2m Pour it over at the table if you can. The sound and the smell are half the dish. | |
| 3 1/2 cups | ||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 1 | ||||
| 3 tbsp | Fry until the cumin pops and the chillies darken 3m 30–40 seconds only. Burnt tadka is bitter and there is no saving the dish. | |||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 4 cloves | ||||
| a pinch | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| a handful | ||||
| 1 tbsp | ||||
-
Rinse until the water runs clear
5m- toor dal 1 cup
-
Simmer until the lentils collapse, then whisk smooth
30m- from 1 Rinse until the water runs clear
- water 3 1/2 cups
- ground turmeric 1/2 tsp
- salt 1 tsp
- tomato 1
Whisk rather than blend — you want it creamy but not uniform.
-
Fry until the cumin pops and the chillies darken
3m- ghee 3 tbsp
- cumin seeds 1 tsp
- dried red chillies 2
- garlic 4 cloves
- asafoetida (optional) a pinch
- Kashmiri chilli powder 1 tsp
30–40 seconds only. Burnt tadka is bitter and there is no saving the dish.
-
Pour the sizzling tadka over the dal and cover for a minute
2m- from 2 Simmer until the lentils collapse, then whisk smooth
- from 3 Fry until the cumin pops and the chillies darken
- coriander leaves a handful
- lemon juice 1 tbsp
Pour it over at the table if you can. The sound and the smell are half the dish.
What a tadka is for
Most of the aromatic compounds in cumin, chilli and asafoetida are fat-soluble, not water-soluble. Simmering them in the dal extracts very little; frying them briefly in hot ghee extracts almost all of it, and the ghee then carries that flavour through the whole pot. It is an extraction step, which is why it happens at the end rather than the beginning.
Notes
- Ground chilli goes in off the heat. It scorches in seconds at frying temperature.
- Whisk the dal hard once it is soft. That is what makes it creamy without cream.
- It thickens as it stands. Loosen with hot water, not cold.