Day 31: Dal!

In this class we had chef Pankaj Kumar come and talk to us about Indian food, with a focus on Dal. Main takeaways: lentils are delicious, really good for you, and we should eat more of them! And also, no surprise here, but Indian food is extremely varied and we barely touched the tip of the iceberg. Made me really excited to learn more and keep getting out of my cooking comfort zone. Some crazy facts:

• Lentils have 56% more antioxidants than blueberries!
• Lentils have the lowest carbon emissions among all common food products. They’re actually a nitrogen fixing crop, which means they convert nitrogen in the air into plant available nutrients, ultimately improving the environmental sustainability of the land they’re grown in (making it better / easier to grow other crops)
• Americans eat 200 pounds of beef per year, but only ½ pound of lentil

We also learned about Tarka, which is essentially an Indian method where spices are added to very hot oil to bring out a lot more flavor and aroma. That mixture then gets added to the final dish as a final step of seasoning. 

Coconut Dal

Serves 4-6 

Dal Ingredients:

• 1 cup dal, rinsed
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 4 cups water

Spice Paste:

• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ¾ cups coconut milk
• 2 fresh Thai chilies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

Tarka

• 2 tbsp coconut oil or cultured butter
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 dried chile de arbol
• 1 shallot, minced
• 20 curry leaves

Method:

1. Rinse the dal in water until it runs clear. Then soak the dal in 4 cups of water for at least 4 hours.
2. After the dal has soaked, add the dal and its water to a pot, along with the turmeric, and bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame to low, cover mostly, and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
3. Give the dal a good stir every ~10 minutes, especially as it begins to thicken at the end so that it doesn’t scorch.
4. Combine all the ingredients for the Tarka into a food processor and blend until smooth. This paste will NOT taste good because of all the raw onion. Nevertheless, add to the dal, along with a bit of salt, and simmer for an additional 5-8 minutes.
5. Make your Tarka: put your coconut oil or cultured butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds and saute for 30 seconds. Then add the chile and shallot and fry till brown around the edges, a few minutes. Then add the curry leaves and after those cook for just a few seconds, pour the whole mixture over the dal. Give a quick stir, and let sit for 5 minutes. Adjust for salt (you will likely need a lot here!) Serve with rice!