DAL TADKA
Serves: Makes tadka for 2 cups of dried lentils.
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Dietary Style: Veg. GF.
DF / Vegan Sub: coconut oil or mustard oil.
The tadka is the tempered spice that is added to the cooked dal that creates the true character of the dish. This tadka recipe takes into account the way that my family cooks dal - we add the salt and a little turmeric to the dal before pressure cooking, so no salt is required in the aftermath. If you haven’t added salt through the lentil cooking process, then you will need to add your salt to the tadka. The Kashmiri wadi or garam masala added at the end is an optional piece of recipe advice. For me, it’s a must: this final spice addition deepens, strengthens, softens and harmonises the end mouthful. But perhaps some like it simpler and less structured. Practice, play and see which you prefer. These quantities of spice are to create a tadka for 1.5 cups of dried lentils. It is a tadka designed to best suit channa (split chickpea) dal and toor (split pigeon pea) dal. Make this suited to vegans by replacing the ghee with coconut oil.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 3 tsp cumin seed
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1/3 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
- 1 tsp Kashmiri wadi or garam masala
Add the ghee to a small pot and heat on a medium heat until melted and fragrant.
Add the cumin seed, Kashmiri chilli powder, ginger powder and fresh minced ginger. Leave on medium heat until the spice and ghee begins to bubble and become fragrant - approximately three to four minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir straight through the hot cooked dal until fragrant. Add the Kashmiri wadi or garam masala as the final touch. Stir through.
Serve.