Dal Tadka

Hi

We love DAL TADKA. Tadka means tempering. Whenever we go out for lunch or dinner, we prefer to order dal tadka as side dish for non/roti or zeera rice etc. My son likes very much. Ofcourse we all too. I thought why don't I try it at home itself.  After searching I planned to prepare North Indian style dal tadka with little changes which gives flavor to dal. Prepared dal tadka only with tour dal. First I thought it is little difficult.

OK. Let us go to prepare.

Ingredients
Batcch 1

• Tour dal                                       1 cup
• Tomato                                         1 big Chpped
• Onion                                            1 big chopped
• Green mirchi                                 1 chopped
• Ginger                                            1/4 inch chopped
• Garlic                                             4to 5 flakes chopped
• Turmeric powder
• Hing
• Salt to taste

For Tadka

• Ghee                                              2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds
• Garlic                                             5 flakes crushed
• Dry red chillies                               2 ( broken)
• Red chilli powder                           pinch
• Curry leaves
• Coriander leaves

For sharp variation and flavor

• Natural charcoal                           1 piece
• Betel leaf                                        1
• Ghee                                                1/2 tbsp

How I did it

1. Rinse toor dal well and pressure cook with all ingredients under batch 1 with sufficient water till 5 to 6 whistles.
2. After steam is released, open the lid and mash the dal. See the consistency. If required add little water and keep aside.
3. Take natural charcoal piece. Burn char coal on the stove. Means keep a charcoal piece on the grilled pan and keep the grilled pan on the stove till charcoal becomes hot red.
4. Mean time take small steel cup/bowl.
5. Place it on the prepared dal bowl.
6. Place washed betel leaf in the bottom of the cup or on the hot red char coal
7. Keep the burnt red charcoal on the betel leaf.
8. Pour ghee on the burnt red char coal.
9. See the fumes and aroma releases from ghee and betel leaves.
10. Immediately as soon as you pour ghee on char coal, cover the dal bowl. So that the dal get infused with char coal smoke.
11. Keep it like that till smoke stops. It takes 3 to 4 minutes.
12. Finally be careful about THE GREAT TADKA the title of the recipe and which gives delicious and mouth watering taste to dal
13. Heat ghee in small popu pan. Let it heat on low flame. Add jeera till it cracles, then crushed garlic. Let garlic turn brown and then add hing, curry leaves and red chilli powder.
14. Switch off the stove.
15. Add this tadka to prepared dal.
16. Final touch add coriander leaves and give good mix.
17. This process will take 3 minutes.
18. By that time dal becomes cold.
19. Add little water and heat it for 2 minutes.
20. See the consistency, it is like neither thin nor thick, should be medium.
21. Transfer into a bowl.

Serve garama garam with  with roti/non or rice item like biryani. I prepared pudina rice .

My Note

The charcoal method of flavoring the dal with smoky fumes is optional.
You can go directly ie adding popu/tadka to prepared dal. But there is difference in flavor.
Generally I used soaked dal for 1 hour (if time permits) before cooking. It takes less time to cook and dal becomes nice consistency.