#dhal

Also to get better photos, because the one accompanying the original post is...

Unimpressive.

"Savoury mud" is what I called it then, and have no reason to change that opinion - but regardless of how unprepossessing it looks, It Tastes Just Great.

I'm thinking that some red and green pepper pieces would add a bit of colour, and wouldn't hurt the flavour. Maybe kidney beans, too...

That vaguely yellowish thing in the middle is a large chunk of butter, with which DD will happily garnish rice, kasha, colcannon, champ, porridge (with brown sugar) and of course a nice big baked potato.

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I've amended the recipe slightly, reducing the oil and salt by half and adding metric measurements - which are approximate, everything about this is approximate. It was literally something I just threw together without, as it says, referring to a cookbook or buying in anything special.

That said, I do recommend using ghee for Indian cooking if you can get any. It's very easy to make at home, similar to clarifying butter except for taking longer since it involves cooking (browning) the separated-out milk protein on the bottom of the pot to add flavour. There's plenty of ghee-making advice on-line.

OK, here's that recipe...

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Improvised store-cupboard dhal (dal, daal etc.) for when you can’t be bothered with a cookbook then going to the shop for more elaborate ingredients.

Ingredients:

½ cup / 125 ml vegetable oil OR 125g ghee (better flavour)

2 large onions, chopped fine

4-6 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 tbsp. each of ground cumin, ground coriander

½ tbsp. each of ground turmeric, ground chilli, ground black pepper

½ tbsp. each of mild curry powder & hot curry powder (optional)

½ tsp. salt

2 cups / 500 g red lentils

½ cup / 125 g green lentils

½ cup / 125 g brown lentils

Boiling water

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Method:

Heat the oil, fry the onions & garlic until soft and glossy.

Add all the spices and fry for a few minutes.

Add all the lentils and stir everything together*.

Add enough boiling water to cover by ½ an inch.

Stir everything together, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about ½ an hour. Check occasionally, adding more water if required, a bit at a time then stir. (Don’t overdo the water. Preferred texture is like stew, not soup.)

Add lemon juice, stir, and serve with rice and / or breads like chapatti, roti or naan.

My recipe for naan is here.

This dhal makes a good side with shop-bought tandoori chicken.

*Alternately add lightly fried chicken or lamb cubes and 2 x cans of chopped tomatoes along with the lentils, reducing the amount of water accordingly. Simmer for ¾ hour, serve when meat is cooked, and call it a dhansak.

Here’s another character from the lineup of Gladius.  Once I get all the designs largely down I’ll probably do another height comparison line up with all of them.  Anyway, this is Zarveen.  He’s a Rakshasa assassin who was tasked with killing S (the main character of Gladius).  After failing to do so, Zarveen is forced  to form an alliance with S to uncover who hired him and why they wanted S dead.  As Rakshasa, Zarveen has the ability to shapeshift and cast illusions.  He his equipped with arm braces that generate Dhals (shields) and Katars (daggers).