This week I made tarka dal, which is basically a red lentil curry. I make this regularly, and it's not only fairly simple to make once you've mastered it, but it's full of flavor. It hits all the curry notes that I look for when I'm in the mood for something spicy.

It's good for vegetarians too, and it just uses pantry staples.

I've made it so many times now that it's just easy to rattle off. You can have it on its own, with rice, or with naan bread. It's entirely up to you.

The reason I make this as well is that it's cost-effective. When I make a batch of it, I can get 3 days' meals out of it, so it's good for that also.

Four Years of Tweaking an Online Recipe

This recipe started off from an original recipe that I found online, and I played around with it, tweaked it, and made it my own. I've been making it now for probably 4 years.

The original had some extra ingredients added to it, which were a bit more special or you could only get them from specialist stores, so I made it a bit simpler. I adapted it to use some dried chili flakes instead of fresh chili because I always have dried chili flakes in my pantry. I also like to add garlic and bay leaves to the simmering lentils, which gives a little bit of extra flavor that the original recipe didn't have.

I add a generous serving of chopped coriander, not only through the lentils but also as a garnish, which the recipe didn't include either. Whenever I have curry or Indian-inspired food, I always feel that it needs to have coriander. I just like the extra flavor that it brings.

Red Split Lentils and a Simple Tarka

It's really simple to make this. The main ingredient is lentils: red split lentils. They cook and simmer along with some turmeric, garlic, and bay leaves.

That's the main part of the recipe.

To turn it into a tarka dal, you need to make a tarka, which consists of:
– chopped onions
– ginger
– some mustard seeds
– cumin seeds
– tomatoes

It all gets cooked and then added to the lentils, which then gives you the completed dish.

The only thing that's maybe hard to find is mustard seeds and kasuri methi, which is dried fenugreek leaves. Mustard seeds are what I use in this recipe. Everything else is pretty standard.

I have used different types of mustard seeds if I didn't have black mustard seeds. If you don't have cumin seeds, you could use ground cumin, but you would have to use much less so you don't overpower the other flavors.

Forty Minutes of Simmering, Five of Tarka

To make this, I start by simmering the lentils with some turmeric, some crushed garlic, bay leaves, and salt. Bring that to a simmer and then keep it on just a gentle simmer for usually around 40 minutes until the lentils completely break up.

Once it gets to the last 5 minutes, I will start making the tarka to go into the dal. I will fry some chopped onions, and once they start to turn golden, I add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds until they begin to pop.

I then add the kasuri methi and cook that with the chopped fresh chili or chili flakes (depending on what I'm using) and cook that out for a couple of minutes. Then add chopped tomatoes or even some watered-down tomato puree and cook all that together for a couple of minutes, and then add that to the dal.

Give it all a good stir to bring it together, and check for seasoning. Add any extra salt and black pepper if needed.

Why Red Split Lentils and Chili Flakes Win

For tips and swaps, I always tend to stick with red split lentils as they don't need pre-soaking and they cook relatively quickly and turn creamy in the final dish. At a push, you could use tinned lentils, but it would depend on the actual type of lentil, as lentils like green lentils wouldn't be suggested, as they tend to keep their shape. If you are unable to get red lentils, the closest swap would be yellow split lentils.

They will cook in a similar time and give a similar creamy result.

When making the tarka, you can also use different types of tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes will work, chopped up; so will chopped tinned tomatoes and even a little bit of passata. With this recipe, I actually use tomato paste and just dilute it with a little bit of water to make a quick passata, as you don't need much.

When it comes to making this dish easier, I would say using dried chili flakes is a bit easier than having to chop and dice fresh chili. Also, if you don't like it too hot, you don't have to worry about removing the seeds from the chili. It also helps that using dried chili flakes means you won't have to remember to wash your hands and not touch your eyes.

My top tip would be to add enough water to the lentils so that it covers them by about an inch. You don't want too much water because it will turn very thin, and if it starts to get too thick, you can always add more water. I also want to make sure that I don't forget to give it a stir regularly to stop it from sticking to the pan.

Tastes Like a Good Indian Restaurant

I make this for myself regularly as it's quite quick to make. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it without needing to look back at the recipe, as it's pretty straightforward. I also find it great to eat when I'm craving curry flavors.

I have also made this for friends and family, and they love it. They say it tastes just like something they would get in a good Indian restaurant.

Gentle Simmer for Creamy Lentils

The main thing with this one is to make sure you get the right consistency with your red lentils. Get them to a gentle boil. You can skim off any scum that accumulates on the top of the cooking water and then just reduce to a gentle simmer.

That's the way you get them nice and creamy, and trying to rush it ruins the texture of the lentils.

This can be quite customizable as well, so other people could change out different spices that they add to the tarka. Keep the base of fried onions and then add whatever spices they like to make it their own.

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