In Vietnamese, there’s a term called bùi, which means buttery and rich but it doesn’t just describe desserts. My mother likes to apply the word to tasty legumes. That’s how I like to characterize this Indian dal recipe, one of my go-to Asian vegetarian dishes. It’s very bùi (“boo-ee”) and loaded with spices and a touch of heat too.
I’ve been making this dal recipe for years and I tweak it all the time. For example, last week, I made an Indian lunch for company: Tandoori chicken, seared ginger raita, green salad, basmati rice, and dal. Since the raita called for mustard seed, curry leaves, and whole chiles, I dropped them from the dal. Instead I cooked chopped onion with the garlic and other spices to flavor the dal. On the other hand, if there is a lot of onion used in another part of the meal, I’ll drop it from the dal and opt for the curry leaves and chiles. I imagine that you can use all the ingredients too.
However you fuss with the seasonings for a dal, the foundation is the creamy base of cooked legumes (step 1). Once you have that, you can add spices and aromatics to impart extra flavor. Frying those ingredients intensifies them and sometimes, in the case of the onion that gets caramelized, transforms them. Developing that wallop of seasonings is important as the buttery dal will soften their blow once everything is combined.
Note that dal can be prepared from a variety of legumes (pulses). This favorite features yellow split peas, which have a wonderful richness, earthy depth, and cheery color. At South Asian markets, look for chana dal, which cook up a little firmer and don’t lose their shape entirely like the yellow split peas sold at mainstream markets and health food stores. Some cooks like to soak the peas first before cooking but I just throw it into a pot with water and turn on the heat.
If you tweak this recipe, let me know your twist!
RECIPE
Basic Yellow Split Pea Dal
Serves 4
1 cup chana dal or yellow split peas
4 cups water
2 Roma tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup canola oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon brown or black mustard seeds (optional)
5 large cloves garlic, sliced
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped, and/or 1 or 2 hot green Thai or Serrano chiles, stemmed and halved lengthwise and 10 fresh or thawed curry leaves, blotted dry with paper towel
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cayenne (use the maximum if no fresh chiles are used)
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro, leafy tops only
1. Put the dal and water into a 4-quart pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim the scum and then add the tomato. Lower the heat to simmer. Cover and cook until the dal is soft and broken up, 40 to 60 minutes. Remove and discard the tomato skin pieces, and then gently whisk to further blend the dal and tomato. The dal will break up a bit.
You can make the dal a day in advance up to this point. Let it cool completely and refrigerate. Return it to room temperature before moving forward. Add a splash of water when bringing it up to a simmer as it’s bound to thicken a lot from sitting overnight.
2. Bring the dal to a simmer and have a lid ready before proceeding. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and partially cover to shield yourself from the sizzling drama. Decrease the heat to medium. After the seeds stop sputtering, uncover.
Add the garlic and onion (or the chiles and curry leaves). If you used onion, cook, stirring for a good 5 minutes, until the onion has turned a dark brown. If you opted for the chiles and curry leaves, you only need to cook them with the garlic for about 1minute, or until the chiles and leaves are fragrant and slightly blistered.
3. Regardless, turn off the heat and stir in turmeric, coriander, and cayenne. Add to the simmering dal. Stir in the salt and butter. Remove from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to develop the flavor. Taste and add extra salt, as needed. Transfer to a shallow bowl, garnish with cilantro, and enjoy with rice, naan, chapati, or warm whole-wheat tortillas.
Related recipe(s):
I think this looks fantastic. I just cooked with yellow split peas for the first time yesterday and loved them, so it was fun to see this recipe pop up in the feed reader.
Makes me want some for lunch now! Daal is a family favorite. My recipe is slightly different and I recently posted a seasonal take on it that includes kale, another family favorite. Here’s a link.
http://veenasmarket.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/a-winter-twist-to-delicious-daal/
My family and I lived in Vietnam for a couple of years and we loved the food there. I love your website because it brings back memories of our time there and the delicious food that we miss since we have returned to the States.
Just a quick comment on your Vietnamese, however – in the dal recipe above, I think you mean to say bùi instead of buì. (Also, I believe it is pronounced boo-ee and not bee-u.) The recipe looks delicious, and I plan to try it.
Thanks again for your great website!
I can’t get enough of any kind of dal! It’s one of the main reasons (along with indian flat breads) that made me choose India as my next vacations place 🙂
I do mine slightly different. I cook the peas and a tsp of turmeric powder until they are nearly nearly cooked.
Then in another pan, i fry off some garlic till coloured, then add a tsp of red chilli powder and fry for one minute, then add one or two chopped up tomato’s and fry for one minute, then add the dhal to this and a little bit of liquid to moisten it up a little. I do not like mine like a soup. Personal taste. Yes this is a tad spicy but that’s how I like it.
Enjoy
I love all dals, the flavors and spices are so warming and the creamy texture is so soothing. This sounds like a dal I cook the tomatoes separately, along with the onion, and spices, and then stir it into the dal.
this is so perfect. i wanted to go vegetarian at least one night a week this year and have been looking for a dal recipe. i tried one the other night and definitely want to do this one next — thanks!
Nice to find a basic dahl recipe that does not have a list of ingredients that number in the 20’s! Thanks for posting this.
Seriously love dal in all its forms. I often make a similar version to yours but wilt spinach through at the end.
Ginger raita? I’m intrigued. Any chance of an outline?
Good post. I like to read your posts. well written. thank you.
I love a split pea soup. Interesting using yellow split peas.
Tori: Thanks for catching the typos. I made the edits and greatly appreciate your watching my back.
Veena and Bron: Adding kale and spinach would lend great texture and color to the dal. Nice idea.
Mzungu: I agree that dal should not be soupy. I like it kind of thick so that it flavors the rice well but not so heavy duty that it weighs down the rice and other dishes on the plate.
Bron: I’ll post the ginger raita later this week. It’s an amazing preparation. Thanks for asking.
Yep, if you’re going meatless, you won’t miss a meat bit if there’s dal on the table.
This is such a great recipe. Can’t wait to try this one out. I’m pretty sure my husband would love this!
Hi Andrea,
Soaking the yellow split peas ahead of time, usually 2 hours minimum, helps to reduce the flatulent effect the peas can have. But you certainly don’t have to do so. Frying a pinch of asatoefida with the garlic/onions will also help. THanks for the recipe!
I’d constantly want to be update on new posts on this internet site , saved to favorites ! . Thanks for the vietnamese recipe.
I just get all worked up , and I stew around!
careless move may lose the whole game
Kids make a person responsible and mature and help us to understand life better!
Just wanted to let you know I made this and blogged it. It’s really great, and it’s become a regular meal in our house. Thanks 🙂 http://sundayhotpants.nocturne.net.nz/post/3996925334/yellow-split-pea-dahl
Seems to be pretty tasty and easy to cook, I think there is no problem to find all the ingridients
Wow, this looks so good. Not to hard either, perfect