Chana/tarka Dhal

[hammerman]

I have a bag of chana dhal lentils that im currently soaking. What, apart from throw them in the bin, would you do with them ?

i was thinking of boiling them until soft then adding thin strips of cooked chicken, ginger, garlic, various spicies, onions, a tin of finely chopped tomatoes....maybe a tad of sugar to sweeten a bit ?

What do you think ? any other suggestions ?

[Mamyalynne]

In truth you can add anything - I would fry off the garlic,ginger,onions and spices before adding them to the cooked lentils.

[Buenchico]

You're making me hungry!

This looks tasty (but scroll down to the comments for possible tweaks to the recipe to improve it):
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/one-pan-lentil-dhal-curried-fish-crispy-skin

[Mamyalynne]

Drain off some if not all the liquid from the tinned toms too, be too wet otherwise.

[tamborine]

Put them in a pyrex pint jug with pinch salt, cover with boiling water to inch above lentils, clingfilm jug top & nuke for 10mins. Meantime fry mashed garlic and tspoon haldi (yellow) & stir into lentils when water is absorbed.

[tamborine]

Dont eat too much if gf is over ;)

[Clanad]

We have friends that are hosting an International student from Kenya and the young lady sometimes displays signs of homesickness, so Mrs. C. prepared a traditional Kenyan recipe thusly:

Dengu is the Swahili word for 'lentils' and this classic stew uses green lentils as its base.

Ingredients:
150g green lentils, washed and soaked in water for 8 hours
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 fresh red chillies, sliced
1/2 small pumpkin, peeled, cooked and mashed
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Drain the lentils, put in a pan then cover with water and cook for about 40 minutes, or until they are very tender.

In the meantime, add oil to a pan and fry the onion, garlic, bell peppers and chillies for about 10 miutes, or until all the vegetables are soft.

When soft, drain the lentils, mash with a potato masher then stir in the onion mixture. Add the tomato purée and the mashed pumpkin and mix thoroughly to combine. Cook gently for about 10 minutes, or until heated through then season to taste and serve.

We serve this with a traditional Kenyan side of Ugalie made simply with corn meal (ya'll call it something different), water and a few spices such as red and black pepper (ground) and maybe tumeric. It's boiled until fairly thick in a heavy pan. At the end, when it becomes thick it's pulled into the center of the pan into a semi-loaf configuration and covered to steam for maybe 40 minutes or so. It's then sliced thickly and served with a little butter. The young lady from Kenya nearly cried for joy at the sight and smell of traditional food from home...

It's simple but quite good... seen here:

http://www.foodsresourcebank.org/blog/ugali-cornmeal-porridge-recipe

[gollob]

You cannot beat a Tarka Dhal. it's lie a vinderloo only its hotter