THE DAL YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

Which is my cute way of saying that with a soak overnight and a slow cook, you'll have to wait for it - but it's worth it.

Nooooo, don’t unsubscribe! I promise there won’t be another dal next week. But I did promise this beautiful dark, smoky, thick, stewy, spicy lentil dal for your eating pleasure, so here it is.

Mind you, it’s been through the mill.  I thought it would be great with red kidney beans, so soaked them for the same time and cooked them for the same time. But they must have been pretty old, as they just didn’t soften at all. Yes, cue standing there picking all the red kidney beans out of the dal, sigh.

The idea was right, however, so I just chucked in half a can of drained red kidney beans towards the end instead.

I’ve based it on my favourite dal makhani recipe which is made with black urad dal, because who doesn’t love dal makhani - only to remember with horror just how much butter and cream goes into the traditional version (makhani means buttery, der). But would it be as good without butter and cream? Yep, sure is.

Last week’s quick dal recipe also discussed the tadka, the tempering of spices in oil or ghee that brings a special magic right at the end. This week, I built in the tadka right from the start, adding tomatoes and swirling it into the lentils as they cook. Then I couldn’t help myself and double-tadka’d, doing another one at the end, so we have twice the tadka fun.

LOW AND SLOW DAL

• 400 g whole black urad dal, not split

• 2 litres cold water

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• Half white onion, grated

• 400 g canned tomatoes

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 garlic cloves, grated

• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger

• 2 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp garam masala

• Half tsp chilli powder or cayenne to taste

• 1 tsp salt

• 200 g canned red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

• Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Soak the dal in a large bowl of cold water overnight, then drain and rinse.

Place in a large saucepan with 2 litres cold water in a pot, cover and bring to the boil, skimming off any foam.

 Reduce heat, add turmeric, partly cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the lentils are soft enough to squish in your fingers.

In the meantime, heat the ghee or oil in a fry pan and add the cumin seeds, frying until they start to crackle.

Add the grated onion and fry for 3 minutes, moving it around the pan over medium heat.

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, stirring (careful, it might splutter).

Add the grated garlic and ginger, stirring.

Add the coriander, cumin, ground chilli,  garam masala and salt, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Tip the whole lot into the dal, add the red kidney beans, and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, uncovered, until it’s nice and thick (help this along by mashing a few times with a potato masher then stirring).

Add coriander and serve. Serves four with rice, or six as a side dish.

Tips: Serve with rice, as a meal, or alongside a curry, with or without roti bread. Or just serve it as it is with pan-fried salmon or roasted eggplant on top and a spoonful of Indian chutney or lime pickle. Or top with a quick tadka, below.

Quick tadka with onions

This is really more of a fried garnish, not a tadka, but I’m still on my tadka roll, so it’s a tadka.

• 2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil

• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds

• Half a white onion, very finely sliced

• Half a green chilli, finely sliced

• 20 curry leaves

Heat the ghee or oil in a small pan, and add the mustard seeds and fry until they crackle.

Add the onion, green chilli and curry leaves and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onions are golden and crisp.

Tip over the dal, and serve.

This is the lovely spicy tomatoey mess you cook up and add to the lentils.

With canned red kidney beans, nice.

Thanks for dropping by! Thanks to those who queried last week’s spelling of dal - I’m very happy for it to be dal, dhal or daal, but probably not dahl or darl. And tadka is also known as tarka, use whichever one you like. Special thanks to Terry for picking out all the red kidney beans.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be recognised in Australia’s Constitution.