Homemade Sindhi Daal

Homemade Sindhi Daal

This is a staple at my parent’s table – it is served at least once a day - no Sindhi meal is complete without a daal.  There are many different types of daal, but this is the one that is most frequently made at my parent’s home.

Ingredients  (serves 4)

150g (½ cup) yellow moong daal

1litre (3 cups) water

10 fresh or dried curry leaves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

5 cloves garlic – crushed

Finely chopped fresh ginger - 1 teaspoon (heaped)

1 -2 green chillies – finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes – roughly chopped

¼ - ½ teaspoon red chilli powder

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon clarified butter or vegetable oil

Finely chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Rinse the daal in a sieve under running cold water.

2. Heat the daal and water together in a large saucepan until it comes to the boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 40 minutes.

3. While the daal is cooking, make the ‘tarka’ in a separate small saucepan – heat the clarified butter over a low to medium heat and add the curry leaves and cumin seeds - cook them for about 1 minute – until the cumin seeds just start turning a slightly darker colour.

4. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies to the curry leaves and cumin seeds, and continue cooking the mixture until the garlic turns a golden brown. Next, add the tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt, and cook for about 5 minutes, then take it off the heat – the tarka is now ready.

5. Add the tarka to the cooked daal (after it has been simmering for 40 minutes); stir the tarka in well and continue cooking the daal and tarka together over a low heat for a further 5 minutes.

6. Sprinkle some fresh coriander on top of the daal and serve with naan, boiled rice or chapattis.