I have kind of adapted my mum's dal recipe, not quite as successfully as hers, will find - I leave out the tomatoes...don't use dried curry leaves, but they freeze very well (use from frozen).
¾ cup mung dal
½ cup red lentils (masoor dal)
put the two together , wash well, cover with water and allow to soak for about an hour.
Then drain, cover with fresh water (about 4 to 5 cups), and bring to the boil with
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 fat clove of garlic, smashed and chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
Once it has come to the boil, shove it into the oven, gas mark 5, and leave it there for half an hour to forty minutes, until the dal is well cooked, and the whole thing can be mashed together. Remove and set aside.
Now take another pan (small frying pan or karhai), add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat. Add a teaspoonful of black mustard seeds a sprig of curry leaves (do try and find this; it makes all the
diff.)
1 ?2 dry red chillies
½ teaspoonful of whole cumin seeds (jeera) ¼ teaspoonful fenugreek seeds (vendhyam) a pinch of asafoetida (don?t leave this out, it gives the genuine
flavour)
When the mustard seeds splutter, and the other spices have toasted and are fragrant (but not burnt, please), add
1 finely chopped onion. Let this brown. At the last moment add a good bunch of washed and finely chopped coriander. Let it turn in the oil, and just crispen up. Then pour the whole fragrant seasoning (bhagar or taalippu) on to the cooked dal. Check for salt, give a good squeeze of lemon. Enjoy.