this is a very hearty, filling and somewhat heavy winter dish.
On my first stay in India I used to add a type of salty cookies to this dish Once done.
The cookies were not spiced, and were very hard and oily. I found it goes very well with this dish, compliments its heartiness, and contrasts its soft texture. You might want to add some crushed similar cookies to this dish.
Ingrediants (serves five):
1 1/3 cup black urad dal
1/3 cup red kidney beans
one grated clove of garlic
one cinnamon stick
four green cardamom pods.
One black cardamom pod.
2 clove.
One big onion, finely chopped
1/3 teaspoon turmeric.
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek powder.
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup fresh tomato paste
1/3 cup cream.
One heaped tablespoon butter
half a cup chopped fresh coriander leaves.
Half a teaspoon green cardamons powder.
1/3 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Preparation:
immerse the dilute and kidney beans in water for at least six hours.
Put the black urad dal and the red kidney beans together with the great garlic and 6 cups of hot water and steam cooker. Cook for 30 min., Adding grated garlic to the cooking liquid will create a very distinct garlicky taste to the dish. This method the creates a deep garlicky underline and is very distinct in taste. Frying the garlic will present a completely different garlicky taste, that is not as deep. Using more than one clove of grated garlic with the cooking liquid might be unbearable for some people. In my opinion one clove is enough to give the dish a very deep garlicky taste but you might want to add to this.
On a low flame heat 2 tablespoons of butter until all is melted. Add the cinnamon stick and toss for 30 seconds. Add the cardamom pods and the cloves, and toss for another 30 seconds. Add the Bay leaf and toss for another 30 seconds(remember all this should be done on the very low heat to keep the butter from burning). Add the finely chopped onions and stirfry until the onions are well browned and shriveled. You might want to add some water at some point if the preparation seems to stick to the bottom of the pan. If you do, make sure to scrub the bottom of the pan thoroughly in order to reincorporate all the tastes back into the masala.
Once the onions are well browned. Add the turmeric, fenugreek powder, and paprika and stir for 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste, and Increase the heat. Stir Fry for 5 min. notice this recipe uses a very small amount of tomatoes, not enough to give the dish a distinct tomato paste, but enough to present a deeper, more substantial platform to all the other ingredients.
Once the tomatoes are well incorporated in the masala (notice: the usual way of telling if the masala is prepared is by reaching the stage where the oil leaves the masala. Since I make a point of using less oil in my preparations, the masala would never reach that stage. In my opinion, if the oil leaves the masala. You have evidently used too much oil. I judge the readiness of my masalas by their overall appearance: if they look shriveled and paste like, I know the ready.)
Remove the masala from the fire and add it to the cooked lentils. Put the lentils on the very low flame for 30 min., stirring occasionally. Pour the cream into the pan. You used to Fry the masala. Scrape well, and Use it to grate all the slightly burnt masala pieces. This way all the taste is incorporated back into the cream and back into the dish. Now add the cream to the cooked dilute and stir. Remove the dollar from the flame. Add one heaped tablespoon of butter, the cardamom powder, the cinnamon powder and some chopped fresh coriander.
Add the cookies if you feel like it.