Dal Tadka
Lentils cooked soft in the cooker, then hit with a spitting ghee tempering just before it reaches the table.
Method
Amounts inside the steps follow the servings dial, so you never have to hold the arithmetic in your head.
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Cook the dal
Put the 200 g lentils in the cooker with the 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, ½ tsp turmeric, salt to taste and 600 ml of water. Close it and cook for three whistles on medium, then let the pressure drop on its own.
Letting it release naturally finishes the cooking and stops the lentils breaking up.
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Whisk it smooth
Open the cooker and whisk the dal hard for thirty seconds. Add hot water until it pours off the spoon in a ribbon rather than a lump, and keep it warm.
Dal thickens as it sits, so make it looser than you think you want.
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Make the tadka
Heat the 2 tbsp ghee in a small pan until it shimmers. Add the 1 tsp cumin seeds and wait for them to crackle, about fifteen seconds, then the 4 garlic cloves. Fry until the garlic is pale gold at the edges, not brown.
Garlic goes from gold to bitter in about ten seconds. Pull it early.
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Pour it over
Take the pan off the heat, stir in the ½ tsp chili flakes so they bloom without burning, and pour the whole thing over the dal. Do not stir it in at the table. Scatter the a handful of coriander leaves and serve.
Chilli added off the heat keeps its colour. Added on the heat it turns black and acrid.
Cook’s notes
Which lentil. Toor dal is the default. Masoor cooks faster and goes softer; moong is lighter. All three work with these timings give or take a whistle.
Double the tadka. It is the whole flavour of the dish and it costs a minute. Nobody has ever complained about too much.
It thickens overnight. Loosen with hot water and re-temper a fresh spoon of ghee over the top before serving again.
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Ranked by how much of tonight’s shopping they reuse, so nothing sits in the fridge going soft.