Rice & Dal

First things first. Measure the rice and the dal, and start soaking them while gathering everything else.

Implements

Here are the equipment needed.

• 3 saucepans with their lids. (at least 1 should be medium size, other two can be small.)
• 1 wet measuring cup for water
• 1 dry measuring cup for rice and dal
• 2 teaspoons for scooping spices & pastes
• strainer or something to help rinse the rice/dal.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients. Each prep bowl goes in to the pot at the same time.

Sauce pan 1

• 3/4 cup rice covered in water to soak

Sauce pan 2

• 3/4 cup mysore dal, covered in water to soak. Mysore dal is also known as red dal.

Prep Bowl 1

• 2 tablespoons of ghee

Prep Bowl 2

• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 brown cardamom
• 3 cloves
• 1 bay leaf

Prep Bowl 3

• 1 chopped up red onion
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Prep Bowl 4

• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste.

Can of course use fresh garlic & garlic, smash them into a paste, adding half a teaspoon of water to lubricate if needed.

Prep Bowl 5

• tablespoon of tomato paste

Prep Bowl 6

• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chili powder. Adjust to match your taste.

Prep Bowl 7

• 2 cardamom

Prep Bowl 8

• 1 teaspoon of ghee

Preparation

Low and slow.

Drain the dal in saucepan 2, and put the dal back in the pot.

Add 1.5 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt.

Heat to a boil, and then cover with a lid, reduce heat to very low. If there's steam coming out under the lid, the flame is too high.

20 minutes later, turn the heat off, and stir the dal.

Heat the ghee (Prep bowl 1) on lowheat in saucepan 3, the largest pot, till the ghee runs clear. This will probably be only a minute or two.

Add in spices from (Prep bowl 2). The aroma will slowly get more and more fragrant. Once the cinnomon unfurls, go to the next step. This will probably be 2 to 10 minutes.

Add in the onion. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the onion starts to get translucent. Stir occaisionally.

Add in the ginger and garlic paste (prep bowl 4), cook for about a minute

Add in the turmeric and chili (prep bowl 5),

Add in tomato paste. Stir in cooked dal.

Lower heat and cover. Keep it simmering till the rice is done. The dal can simmer for a long time, but at least 10 minutes.

10 minutes before eating, turn the heat to to let the dal calm down. You know how stew is always better the next day? Same idea, but 10 minute minimum.

• Drain the rice

• Add 1.5 cups of water

• Add salt

• Add cardamon (Prep Bowl 7) and ghee (Prep Bowl 8)

• Heat to a boil, and then quickly

• Cover and

• Reduce heat to very low. If there's steam coming out under the lid, the flame is too high. Turn it down so that if you turn it up just a little bit, steam starts coming out

• 15 mintues later, turn off the heat, and fluff the rice.

• Plate the rice with the dal on top, with sides of yogurt and mango pickle. If there's lefovers, top with a poached egg for breakfast.