Dals or lentils are a part of everyday Indian cooking. And the cooking variations are so huge, I would think you could have a distinctly new version each day and probably not repeat one for a few months. I was never a great dal fan, though, which is sort of odd, given how I love most forms of vegetarian proteins. But that is just me.

Growing up, it was not such a huge issue, since ma was not too crazy about them either. But once I got married, the scenario changed. My new family ate dal for both lunch and dinner. To compound my misery, we also had a ‘everyone eats everything’ rule. It was okay to not eat a portion full, but sample, you must. Yikees!!! Poor non-dal fan me 🙁

Over the years, I have learnt to ‘like’ dal, a few favorites have also emerged and helped make the journey easier. And since the kitchen became my domain, those favorites, star in my culinary shows 🙂

One of these stars is the Lachko Dal. Unlike most dals, this is not curry like, you do not sip / drink (yes drink, I know people who drink dal!!). It is more paste like. Made of split skinned Toor / Tuver / Arhar / Pigeon Pea and served with a dollop of ghee as a side , accompanying rice and kadhi (a yogurt based curry). The basic flavor of Toor / Tuver / Arhar / Pigeon Pea comes through boldly with hints of heat and sweetness.

It is a simple dish, nothing too elaborate, but it does bring a feeling of completeness.

What goes Into It

100 gms split and skinned Toor dal / Tuver dal / Arhar dal / Pigeon Pea

2 1/4 cups of water

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

2 whole dried red chillies

1 tsp of jaggery

a small pinch asafoetida

some curry leaves

1 tbsp ghee to temper

Salt to taste

How to go about it

Soak the split and skinned Toor dal / Tuver dal / Arhar dal / Pigeon Pea in 2 cups of water for about 30 mins. They should soak up all the water and look nice and plump

Add salt, turmeric red chilli powder and jaggery to the dal and cook, till it is just done. You do not want it to completely dissolve, the grains need to be distinctly visible. So if you are using a pressure cooker, it would be 3 whistles with 1/4 cup of water. If using a heavy bottomed vessels, add water as required and check often.

Once cooked, transfer to the serving bowl. In a tempering pan, heat the ghee, add the mustard seeds and the whole red chillies; as soon as the start to splutter, turn off the heat. Quickly add the asafoetida and the curry leaves. Careful tip the tempering over the dal and give it a gentle stir to incorporate. You want to be very quick with the tempering, since ghee heats up quickly and starts to burn. A good tip would be to keep all the tempering ingredients ready.

Garnish with a generous dollop of ghee and enjoy with rice and kadhi.

Variations

If you are running short of time, you can temper the soaked dal and then cook everything together.