Tom Salinsky

Here’s a quick recipe for dhal which you can use to make a speedy chicken dhansak as well. The richness of the lentils creates a depth of flavour in the sauce which it’s hard to get without a lot more cooking time, but the dhal on its own is also well worth knowing about. A plate of dhal with basmati rice is a wonderfully soothing quick supper.

Ingredients

For the dhal

250g red split lentils
thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 fat garlic cloves
1 green or red chilli
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 medium onion
1 tsp each ground cardamom, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, salt, black pepper
1 small can chopped tomatoes (200g)
1 lime
vegetable oil for frying

For the chicken

500g chicken breast
1 medium onion
thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 fat garlic cloves
1 green or red chilli
1 medium onion
1 tsp each ground fenugreek, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, salt, black pepper
Fresh coriander to garnish
vegetable oil for frying

Method

Dice the onion for the dhal and slice the onion for the dhansak.

Finely chop the ginger and garlic, deseed and chop the chillis, measure out all the spices.

Gently fry the diced onion in a saucepan until it starts to go transparent. Then add the garlic, chilli and ginger.

Add the spices, stir to combine, then add the lentils.

Pour over the stock and stir well. Simmer for 15 minutes, adding extra water if it starts to get too thick.

While the dhal cooks, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Fry the sliced onion in a wok, and add the ginger, garlic and chilli when it starts to go transparent.

Add the spices, stir to combine.

Then add the chicken and keep frying until it is cooked through.

By now, 15 minutes should be up and the lentils will have largely collapsed into a delicious mush.

Add the juice of the lime, and the chopped tomatoes to the lentils and then pour over the chicken, and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve with basmati rice, pita bread or naan bread, and sprinkled with fresh coriander.

If you just want dhal, then ignore all the chicken-related stuff and just keep simmering the lentils in the saucepan for another five minutes after the lime juice and tomatoes go in. I like my dhal thick and porridge-y, but 500ml of stock is never enough, however I have to remember that extra liquid is going in shortly before the end of the cooking time, and restrain myself from adding too much extra water, especially towards the end, or the lentils end up too soup-y for my liking.

In what seems like a previous life, when I was just getting to grips with cooking for myself, not long out of university, I picked up a copy of Kris Dhillon’s The Curry Secret. The premise of this book is as follows (I paraphrase). British people like going to Indian restaurants. British home cooks like the idea of cooking Indian food at home, but a recipe book describing Indian dishes will almost certainly be describing what an Indian housewife would cook, which is not at all like what a British Indian restaurant serves. Dhillon’s book tells you how to cook British Indian Restaurant Food at home.

The key recipe in the book is Curry Sauce. Once you have a batch of this made, you can whip up an curry you like. Chicken curry? Chicken + Curry Sauce. Lamb vindaloo? Lamb + Curry Sauce + chili + potatoes. Prawn korma? Prawns + Curry sauce + almonds + cream. And so on. The curry sauce recipe is a bit daunting and it doesn’t look at all appetising until the very final stage. Decades after I bought the book, I’ve gone through the whole process and documented it for you. Quantities are deliberately vague to encourage you to buy the book.

Step 1. Cut up a shit-ton of onions.