Chana Dhal Curry

Hobbit loves curry dishes. So today when I went to the kitchen and saw all the spices piling there, I thought okay, it's time for another Dhal take. So I dug deep into my fridge and see what combination would be wise to be cooked with the dhal or daal. Then I reached out for green chilies, onion, tomatoes, carrots, ginger and garlics. Too bad, I cannot give the exact propotion for this recipe for I let go and went for what my cooking instinct told me to do. Nevertheless, I know you home chefs, you have this instincts too right? :)

As I was halfway cutting and Hobbit heating the stoves, suddenly we smelled something rubber-like burning. I thought it must be the stoves but never in my cooking life heating stoves would release rubber-like smell. Then there was a spark! It came from the extension cord which was connected to the stove's cord. Hobbit quickly unplugged the cord and we watch the spark subsided with small puffing smoke! We could have burnt down the kitchen for all we know! Lucky enough we had an extra extension cord. Anyway, back to cooking...

To start with the cooking, I poured the soaked chana dhal and a mixture of masoor dhal into a half pot full of boiling water. I let it boil and simmer for at least 20 minutes (I don't have pressure cooker hence the time) while using the waiting time to prepare the combination and spices. Note that after 10 minutes I added the carrots into the boiling pot.

Now heat a pan and add olive oil and stir-fry the following ingredients: ginger-garlic paste, chopped onion, sliced green chilies, and tomatoes. For the spices, add sesame seeds, mustard seeds, cumin powder, tumeric powder and a pinch of garam masala. Stir fry these ingredients for a minute or two. Meanwhile, check the pot of dhal, add curry powder and salt to taste. Stir the mixture. Add a small cup of evaporated milk to make the curry thicker. The last step is to combine the ingredients in the pan into the pot and let everything simmer for a minute. Turn off heat and the food is ready to be served with rice.