Sri Lankan Dal

Inspiration: The Essential Asian Cookbook (in Danish translation)

I was leafing through this book one last time to see if I could find justification for keeping it. I noticed this recipe for a Sri Lankan dal, but concluded if that was all the book could still go. And so it did. But this recipe has come to stay - with a few modifications.

The original called for curry leaves and lemon grass which I've replaced with lime leaves. I tend to use more of the dried shrimp than the original recipe calls for. Also, I've adjusted the amount of water as I found in my hands it had too much of a tendency to get burned with the amounts in the original recipe.

Ingredients:
- 5-6 yellow onions, sliced
- rapeseed oil
- 1 handfull dried shrimp, chopped ^[1]
- 1 fresh green chilli, chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 400 g red lentils
- 0,5 L water
- 0,5 L vegetable stock
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 3-inch stick of cinnamon
- 10 lime leaves

The sliced onions were fried golden in the oil (for some 5-10 minutes) in a large pot, after which about half of them are removed from the pot. At this point, chilli, dried shrimp and turmeric was added and stirred briefly till fragrant. The rest of the ingredients were added and the pot was brought to a boil before reducing the heat and letting it simmer till the desired texture was achieved (I've found this can take 30-60 minutes). Seasoned to taste with salt and served with the reserved onion.

Additional sides:
- chopped coriander
- rice and/or flat breads
- chutney
- raita

^[1] I am planning to try replacing the chopped, dried shrimp with shrimp paste once I run out of dried shrimp.

Tarka dal

Inspiration: Anjum Anand / BBC Food Recipes

I stumbled upon this recipe when I was looking up a Rick Stein recipe that also employs dried split yellow peas, and after trying it out a few times it's surely become a standard in this household - with a few minor modifications from the original.

Ingredients:
- 225 g dried split yellow peas (chana dal)
- 9 dL water
- rapeseed oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely diced
- ¹/₂ tsp ground cumin
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- ¹/₂ tsp ground turmeric
- ¹/₂ tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- salt and pepper
- optional: chili

The dried split yellow peas were brought to a boil in an uncovered pot - best to keep an eye on it as it tends to foam a lot. The heat was reduced, and the pot was covered and allowed to simmer for 40 minutes. After removing from heat, the boiled peas were mashed coarsely.

Onion, ginger and garlic (and chillies, if used) were fried lightly golden in oil together with ground cumin in a large pan. Tomatoes were added and heating on medium high was continued for some minutes until the tomatoes could be easily mashed with the spatula. The mashed peas were added to the pan together with the rest of the spices. After stirring together it was allowed to simmer till the desired texture was obtained (I prefer my dal somewhat thick).

Serving suggestions:
- freshly chopped coriander
- rice and/or flat breads^[1]
- raita
- chutney

^[1] After moving back to Copenhagen I haven't baked my own naan even once. I find that the Lebanese breads sold at every green grocer is a suitable substitute.

Mushroom tomato sauce for pasta

For dinner last night I wanted a pasta dish, that should incorporate mushrooms, be meatless and go well with a glass of (cheap) red wine. The latter notion sent my thoughts towards a tomato-based sauce and reminded me of past experiments adding anchovies to achieve a greater depth of flavour.

Ingredients:
- 90 g jar of anchovies in sunflower oil
- 2 brown onions, finely chopped
- ¹/₂ bulb fennel, finely chopped
- approx. 2 dL white wine
- 300 g brown mushrooms, medium diced
- 3 tomaotes, diced
- 200 g small tomatoes, diced
- 70 g can of tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh basil
- fresh oregano
- water
- salt
- pepper

First the vegetables were chopped.
The oil from the anchovies was poured into a large pot and heated on high. The anchovies were chopped and added to the pot. When the anchovies were starting to brown the onion and fennel was added and the heat reduced to medium-high. After a few minutes white wine was added in 3 portions, the liquid being reduced between each addition.
The mushrooms were added and when they collapsed a little after a few minutes, the heat was reduced to low before adding tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed garlic, basil and oregano. The pot was covered and allowed to simmer while boiling pasta. The sauce was stirred occasionally and added water in small portions to ensure it didn't go to dry.
Seasoned to tate with salt and black pepper just before serving with wholegrain spaghetti and freshly grated hard Italian cheese and lettuce.
.. and of course the planned glass of read wine. We were very pleased with the result.