Tadka Daal
By Petrina Verma Sarkar, indianfood.about.com

This tasty yet easy-to-cook Daal dish is hugely popular in India. There are as many versions of it as there are cooks in India! One of my personal favorite meals is Tadka Daal served with plain boiled rice. If you prefer, you can add pretty much any side dish you like to enhance this already perfect combination.

One reviewer said this about this recipe, "This is the best tadka dal I have ever tasted. Quick, easy and sooo good. I've tried so many different recipes. This is definitely one I would recommend to anyone."

Tadka translates as "tempering." It is a method widely used in Indian cuisine, in which whole or ground spices are heated in hot oil or ghee and the mixture is added to a dish. Hot fat has an amazing ability to extract and retain the essence, aroma and flavor of spices and herbs and then carry this essence with it when it is added to a dish.

1 cup Toor or Tuvar Daal (see notes below)
1 large tomato cut into cubes
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
Salt to taste
1 tbsp vegetable/ sunflower/ canola cooking oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

For tempering:
3 tbsps melted ghee (clarified butter)
1 tsp Paanch Phoran (a five spice mixture)
10 curry leaves
2 slit green chillies (such as serrano chiles, optional but preferred)
1/2 tsp asafetida powder (see notes below)

Thoroughly wash the Toor/ Tuvar Daal and put into a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups of water to it. [Note: add the following ingredients once the beans have softened. Salt and acidic ingredients such as tomatoes can make beans tough and slow to cook. I had a hard time getting the beans cooked. If cooking in a pot instead of a pressure cooker, soak the beans overnight.] Now add the chopped tomato, ginger, garlic pastes, salt to taste, 1 tbsp of cooking oil and turmeric powder to it. Stir well.

Cover the pressure cooker and set on the stove at a high flame. After the first 'whistle'/ pressure release, reduce the flame to simmer and cook for 2 more 'whistles'/ pressure releases. Turn off the fire and release the pressure from the cooker. Now open the pressure cooker and stir the boiled lentils well to blend into a smooth soup-like consistency. If it is too thick, add some warm water and stir till the consistency is right. Heat the Daal through again. It should be piping hot before you carry out the next step in the recipe.

Heat the ghee on a medium flame, in a small pan till hot. Now add the Paanch Phoran and fry till spluttering stops. Add the curry leaves and green chillies and cook till spluttering stops. Turn off the fire and add the asafetida powder. Stir to mix well and add this tempering mix to the boiled lentil mixture. It will sizzle and might splutter a bit, so be careful when you do this. Stir well.

Serve with plain boiled rice.

Notes:

Whole toor lentils (toor dal = tuvar dal) are yellow with tan jackets, but they're usually sold skinned and split.  They have a mild, nutty flavor, and they're often cooked as a side dish or ground into flour.  They're sometimes sold with an oily coating, which you should rinse off.  Look for them at Indian markets.  Substitutes:  channa dal OR yellow split peas OR pigeon peas. See Types of Dal.

Asafetida powder: This spice is used as a digestive aid, in food as a condiment and in pickles. Its odor, when uncooked, is so strong that it must be stored in airtight containers; otherwise the aroma will contaminate other spices stored nearby. However, its odour and flavor become much milder and more pleasant upon heating in oil or ghee, acquiring a taste and aroma reminiscent of sautéed onion and garlic.