A Very Quick Supper for One

After an invigorating half-hour at the gym (YES!), I came home HUNGRY!!! I had it in mind to make one of the smaller dishes from the Indian chapter, rather than save them for another curry fest, because I didn't have a specific date in mind and didn't want to let the opportunities to make them slip by. So, I was on my own for dinner, and in the mood for dhal!

50. A Very Quick Tarka Dhal - *Indian*

'Dhal', Tom points out, literally means any kind of pulse dish -- not necessarily lentils. But this particular dhal did include lentils, my faves, split red lentils! So, the first step was to boil up some water, lentils, a couple of slices of ginger, curry leaves (Tom says either a bay leaf or curry leaves, but since I was going Indian, I figured why not use the curry ones), and a whole dried red chilli.

This was allowed to come to a rapid boil, and it was cooked at this heat until done, skimming off any scum on the top. I started at 7pm, and by 7:20, the lentils were cooked completely. On a separate pan, I fried up some garlic (sans cumin seeds, as they look too much like fennel seeds to my liking!), in some oil and butter until lovely and caramelized.

Then, I removed the ginger, leaves, and chilli from the lentils and seasoned the dhal with salt to taste, and added the garlic. The final part was just to serve it up and garnish the lentils with some chopped parsley. My mini-curry fest was ready with some toasty naan and mango chutney!

All the elements worked really well together. The crunchy and smoky garlic worked perfectly next to the soft and warming dhal. I used the naan as a sort of spoon and ate the dhal that way too.. Fantastic!

I could see why many people wouldn't think of dhal dishes as very pretty, but dolled up as it is above, I can't find any another word for the dish other than 'beautiful'.

I was going to have one of Tom's Afters following dinner, but I figured if I worked so hard at the gym, there would be no point in having ice cream to work against that. My sweets eating days are not over, they're just not as frequent as they used to be.