On m’a demandé une traduction de la recette de dal, la voici : 

Don’t know about you, but sometimes I have a huge craving for some dishes. And of course, they are not necessarily the easiest done. Sometimes I have time on my hands, sometimes I don’t… Do I have some leftovers in the freezer? Sometimes nothing! I am just hungry. Some of my basic cravings include an egg, any style, on hot rice, with a little soy sauce. Easy…
But Dal, which requests a bit more anticipation, is also one of my favorites. Every dal is comfort food to me. There are so many kinds.
Here is a pretty simple recipe, based on my other recipe (a bit more complicated) and it is just as tasty!
Of course, you’ll need a few basic ingredients. But do buy them if you don’t have them now. You’ll use them, I promise. These are some very useful ingredients to have on your shelves to cook Asian dishes but also easy fusion staple dishes.
Regarding the dal, lentils, I usually use Indian toor dal (yellow split peas). In France, you can find them in many Asian stores. But the simplest is red lentils that you can find pretty much everywhere. They cook fast and they are quite perfect for this dish.

My survivor express dal

Ingrédients (serves 2)

• 2 little glasses of lentils (150g/ a bit less than a cup)
• 1/2 tsp curcuma
• 1 tsp amchoor (dried mango powder, in Indian store; you can skip this if you don’t have it)
• 1,5 tsp garam massala
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 dried chillies
• 1 pinch of asa foetida (Indian stores: you can replace with a pinch of baking soda and ½ mashed garlic clove)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp of pureed ginger (do it yourself or buy it in a jar. It keeps for months)
• 2 tbsp ghee (Indian clarified butter); you can use oil and a dash of butter for the taste instead
• 1 large tbsp of shredded coriander

Steps:

Rince the lentils and put them in cold water in a large pan (2 volumes of water for 1 volume of lentils). Add the curcuma, heat and and cook for ½ or until lentils are soft and easy to mash.

In the meantime, have the other spices ready. Grind the ginger if you use fresh one (you can use a blender it with a little water for exple).

When lentils are thoroughly cooked, remove excess water if necessary (the pan must have the consistency of a thick soup).

Mash the lentils with a spoon and add salt, amchoor and garam massala.

When you are ready to serve:

Heat the oil or ghee in a small pan; add the rest of the dry spices (bay leaves, chilies first and then all the seeds). Let fry for a couple minutes (seeds are going to start popping) and then add asa foetida + ginger.

When this is ready, pour in the dal, mix and cook gently for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Add coriander at the last minute and stir one time.

Serve piping hot with rice or any Indian bread. You can even have it the French way, like a soup…

Enjoy!