Dal Tadka - a cleansing reset
If you’re feeling the effects of different, or excess foods and drinks that tend to come with social holiday times this simple tempered daal recipe is a great soother, cleanser and reset for body-mind.
This one is made with mung daal - split mung beans. These quick cook treasures are a protein and fibre packed legume that create a hearty, creamy, porridge-like consistency that makes for a perfect comfort food.
Another favourite legume for this recipe is toor daal - split pigeon peas,. Also quick to cook, these offer a different nutty taste and flakier texture, maintaining their shape a little more than mung daal.
Split red lentils can also be used (more aggravating for vata types) giving yet another flavour and texture variation.
Or…you can mix it up with 50:50 combinations to get various flavour and nutrient combos (or use whatever you have in the cupboard to equate with the volume for the recipe).
recipe
Allow 1/2 cup daal per person:
1 cup mung daal (or alternative legume - see above)
2-3 large dried chillies (deseed)
choose your heat and taste preference - kashmiri are milder than other dried chillies and offer a sweeter taste)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp crushed garlic
203 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 -2 tsp salt (more for vata, less for kapha)
To serve - add ghee / flax seed oil, additional salt to taste, chopped fresh coriander if available
MEthod:
Rinse mung daal until water runs clear (there’s no need to pre soak any of the legumes above)
For each cup of daal add 3 cups water
Bring to the boil, add salt and simmer for 30 mins (or until soft)
Meanwhile heat a dry fry pan on medium to high heat - the pan should be starting to smoke
add sliced or chopped dried chillies (removing seeds as you go)
add cumin seeds
cook, shaking until aromatic and slightly smoky (gives a great taste to the daal)
reduce heat and add:
ground spices
garlic
ginger
a little water to create a paste (substitute with oil or more water if you don’t have a non stick pan)
cook the paste for 1 minute
Add tempered spice paste to cooked daal, or vice versa and stir through
Allow to sit for at least 5 mins with lid on to develop flavours