dal, and vegetable kofta curry

StudentC

Hi

Just looking some veggie recipe suggestions - this forum seems more active than the vegetarian one so I thought I'd give it a go.

I'm a big dal fan, but I can never seem to make one as nice as ones I get in indian restaurants. I know there's loads of recipes on websites, but I was looking for suggestions from experience, if anyone has any.

Any suggestions for ingredients / methods to try? At the moment most of my efforts involve cumin / coriander / mustard seeds / random other spices, tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, sometimes some grated creamed coconut. Lentils wise, I am using red lentils because they're so quick to cook, but I'll go into town to an Asian shop and try some other types, I'm just not sure which.


Secondly, Bombay Pantry take away do a lovely dish called vegetable kofta curry, does anybody know it? It's deep fried vegetable balls in a cashewy-creamy sauce. I've found a few recipes online and will give them ago, but again was just wondering if anybody has tried making a similar dish, and how did it turn out?

Thanks

Minder

I cook the garlic in oil until toasty and golden, a fine line between toasty and burnt, but the flavour of the dhal with the toasty garlic is similar to that in the restaurants, I think.

Tarka dhal is (apart from my favourite food joke) is dhal with the spices - the tarka or talka. So cook the lentils in stock with tumeric, then when the lentils are cooked, make the tarka by frying whole spices in oil to release the aromatics - include the garlic here - once the seeds are popping and the garlic is golden, tip the whole lot into the dhal. Garnish with a little carmelised onion or some fresh chopped coriander.

muckety

I think the reason why the Dal in the Indian restaurant is so much nicer is because they load it with ghee...

jobucks

muckety wrote: »

I think the reason why the Dal in the Indian restaurant is so much nicer is because they load it with ghee...

very true, it makes a massive difference. I'd imagine it should be available in any ethnic foodstores though. Or you could try using a clarified butter which is more or less the same thing.

I love making tarka Dal, although its laborious and takes quite a time, the flavours are fantastic. I do agree though you need to add the spiced tarka to the dal last to get the best flavours.

Alun

jobucks wrote: »

Or you could try using a clarified butter which is more or less the same thing.

It's exactly the same thing (as long as it's "real" ghee and not the vegetarian stuff you can also get) You can even make it yourself quite easily by melting, skimming and straining molten butter through muslin.

StudentC

Thanks all for the suggestions, i'll start experimenting....:D

This is an excellent source for veggie indian recipes.

http://365daysveg.wordpress.com/category/dals-legumes/