I have a new favorite food: Dal. Dal, as far as I can tell from Wikipedia, is a stew prepared from pulses (such as lentils).
Though I cannot remember where we got the book or who gave it to us (To the gift giver: I'm truly sorry!), Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness winked at me last night from our cookbook shelf as I stared hungrily at the books, wondering what to eat. A quick look through the French Chef inspired some buttery green beans - great for an appetizer (which I ate, happily), but the rest of the recipes were too heavy for my mood. Another wink from the Indian cookbook, and I was sold.
Next was a consideration of ingredients on hand: Rice, yellow split peas, spices. These looked compatible with the recipe for rice (rice and water - easy!) and a dal called Masoor dal baghaar waali. The only missing ingredient was fresh green chiles, which a quick trip to the supermarket fixed.
While cooking the dal, I had a moment of clarity - both rice and lentils are way overcooked if the cooking times on the back of the packages are followed. 20 minutes for rice? 50 minutes for lentils? Both turn to mush with that kind of cooking. I now give basmati rice 11-12 minutes in excess water, then drain, and lentils 30 minutes in 4:1 flavored water (4 cups of water to 1 cup of dry lentils). Also, I realized that lentils get their flavor from spices cooked in neutral oil and then mixed into the lentils near the end of cooking. So many revelations!
If I remember, I will add the recipe to this post when I get home tonight. If not, borrow/check out/buy this book. I haven't done thorough research on good Indian cookbooks, but so far I like this one. Has anyone had luck with other books?
