The Great Recipe Book Challenge of 2013 - January

With no little amount of trepidation, I informed Mrs P. that tonight was the night. She was going to have to girdle her loins, clamp her mainbrace and generally buttress her buttresses in preparation for our combined assault on the bunker of chilli.

Her only request was that I supplement the dinner with a couple of additional components that she could turn to if the going got too rough. Considering that she lets me cook pretty much anything I want, when she does ask me to cook something specific, I normally comply without too much grumbling*. And so, I complimented the menu with the requested chicken skewer and satay sauce combo to create a (slightly culinarily confused) fusion of India meets Indonesia. Pause for thought? Screw it, lets go!

First, the ingredients. One of the best things I discovered about this recipe, was how few ingredients it contains. I am a definite fan of simple recipes which rely on working flavours rather than complicated processes (see my thoughts on The Fat Duck). This one was shaping up well with the dhal being a very simple garlic and turmeric infused lentil slop** and the rest of the power coming through the Tarka, all against the back drop of a wholelotta chilli.

The turmeric did turn the lentils a rather violent colour early on. After an initial pause, I decided to push on anyway.

 The rice was on by this point and the dhal was simmering away nicely. The Tarka actually came togeather much more quickly that I was expecting and by this point it was pretty much done. The mustard seeds providing much more flavour than I had initially gave them credit for and having never used them before I had to admit I had been missing out.

A few minutes before service. Rice was steaming, the Tarka was off the heat and the satay
was awaiting its moment to gracefully enrobe it's grilled chicken love partner.

And there we go. Admittedly Mrs P. opted for a slightly smaller portion to ensure she could limit the damage. The end result being seriously tasty and a perfect example of something that I would never have cooked through choice but which I would absolutely cook again***. I'm pleased with how easily the dish came togeather and the hum of the chilli was fabulous with the garlic in the dhal and simple meeting of the tomato, onion and mustard seeds was such a great accompaniment that I can see that being a really nice snack with a naan. 

So a great success for month one of the The Great Recipe Book Challenge of 2013. I can't wait for February and now that the chilli recipes are out of the way, Mrs P. suddenly has more enthusiasm!



Dhal
115g split red lentils
50g small split yellow lentils
600ml water
1 tsp ginger pulp
1 tsp garlic pulp
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 fresh green chillis - chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt

Tarka
1 onion - sliced
1/4 tsp mixed mustard and onion seeds
4 dried red chillis
1 tomato - sliced (I used a bit of tinned chopped tomatoes because I had mistakenly eaten all of the fresh ones the day before!)

Fresh mint and coriander to garnish


Method:

Wash then boil the lentils in the water with the ginger garlic, turmeric and chopped green chills for about 15/20 minutes until soft.

Mash the lentils into a slop and add the salt.

Fry the onion with the mustard and onion seeds, red chilli and tomato together until the onion
has softened.

Serve with the garnish and add any left over chilli.




* Of course there was to be a little grumbling, you have to keep up a level of consistency you understand.
** I refuse to refer to it as anything more polite.  A chef might call it a lentil paste or mash, I, on the otherhand prefer to call it as I see it. A tasty slop, of that there can be no doubt. But a slop nevertheless.
*** It's good to have such a dish in your back pocket just in case we are visited by any unfortunatly vegetarian friends.