Rev. Peanut's Dhal Curry
Dhal Curry:
Necessary Items:
250g Chana dhal, or yellow lentils, or the like. Not the tinned stuff. The dried stuff.
2 medium onions
5 cloves of garlic
2cm of fresh ginger
4 tablespoons of peanut oil
Hot chillies (As many as you want. I’d use 4 or 5, but that’s just me).
20 fresh curry leaves, or 40 dried ones. Fresh is best. If you can’t find them in your local supermarket, move to Sri Lanka.
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1 teaspoon of turmeric
½ litre of chicken stock (or just water, if you’re allergic to chicken)
Salt and pepper
How to do it:
Rinse the dhal for several minutes under cold running water. Waterboard those bastards.
Roughly chop the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and sautee ½ of the onions to the point where they become caramelised. Burnt, is another word you could use. Until they become burnt. But only slightly burnt. Add the rest of the onions and sautee for a couple of minutes.
Add garlic, ginger and chillies and sautee for yet another couple of minutes.
Add the turmeric and curry powder and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add stock or water, salt and pepper and the dhal; don't forget the dhal - this is important, and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for about an hour, stirring regularly.
Chuck in the curry leaves and simmer for another hour or so, stirring equally regularly.
When the lentils are a bit mushy but still crunchy in the middle, take it off the heat, cover the saucepan and forget about it for at least a day. Go get a pizza or something. The flavour of most curry’s benefits greatly by being left for a day, or even two. If you should forget about it for a week or two, you can expect it to start moving around the house independantly, making diparaging comments about your taste in home decor.
