Dhaal disaster

[wearenotinkansas]

Tried to make dhaal yesterday with split peas. After hours of soaking and simmering the peas were still like bullets. Please tell me how to do this properly. DP is veggie and I really need to expand my repetoire of veggie dishes.

I thought dhaal was made with lentils.

Dalh is made with red lentils which require no pre soaking.

I vary my dalh but something like this with just a few ingrediants

I don't always put tinned tomato in but use a good three tbs of puree added to the stock. I sometimes use curry paste and other times use curry powder or a mixture of spices.

You can made daal with split peas, but you need to soak overnight.

My dhal recipe from my Indian friend has lentills, split peas and rice in.

She advocates soaking the lentils and split peas overnight, the longer they soak for, the less cooking time they need.

Once I just soaked them for 30 minutes and they took forever to soften.

best dhal I have ever cooked was with oily split pigeon peas,no soaking,just put in pressure cooker with water,cook on high for about 25 mins,when pressure reduced blitz with a hand whisk.Then you are ready to add your tomatoes,spices ect.Tastes fab with rice,this is an authentic recipie shown to me & taught to me by gujerati indians.

my dahl:

1 finely chopped onion
1 mug red lentils
cover with cold water to double lentil depth
bring to boil, add veggie stock cube
simmer for around 40 mins until thick

serve with home-made chapatti (flour, oil, salt, water made into dough, roll into thin pancakes and fry on both sides using oil or butter)

nice with mango chutney, veggie curry, basmati rice... yum!

I also recommend soaking the split pea lentils overnight. 24 hours if possible. You absolutely must try this dahl recipe from Riverford. It sounds more fiddly than it actually is but the result is totally worth it. You can get away with omitting the cauliflower if you don't like it and it tastes just as good. The recipe is very popular in our family and guests on independent ocassions have commented positively on it too. In fact, FIL likes it so much that he once ate it the indian way!