Adyin's Delicious Daal and Chaawal (Indian Lentil & Rice)

I chose this dish because I like the taste, the texture and how it feels in my mouth. I also chose this dish because my mom and my grandma showed me how to make it. My mom has been eating this dish since she was a child. This dish is from Pakistan, which is where my mom’s family is from. Loads of people eat this there. We also like to add different spices(some from  the Middle East- where we also have some family) to make it taste good. My family loves to cook and we are spice crazy!

Daal and Chaawal

(Indian Lentil and Rice)

Daal – Ingredients

·       2 cups red daal

·       7 cups water (plus more when cooking if lentils look too dry – it’s all about eye balling with Indian Food!)

·       ½ teaspoon turmeric

·       2 teaspoons paprika

·       ½ teaspoon black pepper

·       ½ teaspoon coriander powder

·       ½ teaspoon amchur powder (this is dried green mango powder)

·       1 cinnamon/cassia bark

·       2 cardamom

·       2 teaspoon salt – NOTE: ONLY PUT IN AT END OF COOKING TIME

·       optional: chopped fresh coriander to garnish

Tarka (to go on top of daal time permitting)

·       2-3 tablespoon of ghee/vegetable/olive oil

·       1 small or half a large onion thinly sliced

Daal – Cooking Instructions

1.     Wash daal. Keep rinsing until barely any white water is left.

2.     Put washed daal in pot with the 7 cups of water and put on stove with high heat.

3.     Put in all spices and stir. Now start washing rice for the rice dish whilst the daal comes to a boil.

4.     Once daal comes to a boil, turn down heat and leave to simmer for about 25-35 mins. Longer cook time simply makes for a thicker daal.

5.     Check the daal once in a while (every 10 mins or so) and stir so the bottom of daal does not stick and to make sure it is not too dry.

6.     Once rice is prepped and cooking, start preparing the tarka which simply involves heating the ghee/oil and adding sliced onion. Fry until dark brown but not burnt.

7.     Towards end of cooking time for daal add the 2 teaspoon of salt and the hot sizzling tarka. Garnish with coriander if you have time. Enjoy. This always tastes even better the next day!

Rice - Ingredients

There are many, many ways to prepare Indian rice dishes. Some more complicated than others. This is the more simple recipe.

·       1 ½ cups rice

·       1 ¾ water

·       1 tablespoon ghee

·       1 teaspoon salt

·       ½ teaspoon pepper

·       1 cinnamon/cassia bark

·       2 green cardamom

·       1 black cardamom

·       1 clove

·       1 aniseed

Rice – Method

1.     Wash rice. Be careful when washing not to break the rice (broken rice makes mushy cooked rice).

2.     Add rice to pan with 1 ¾ water.

3.     Add all remaining ingredients, including water and spices.

 4.     Bring to a boil and then immediately lower heat to a simmer.

5.     Simmer for 15-20 mins and then take off the stove. Do not fiddle too much with rice as it will get mushy.

6.     Once simmering – move on to preparing the tarka – and don’t forget to stir the daal every 10 or so mins!

Simmering away!

The finished product—Yum!