Wednesday 6 February 2013

Kidney Bean Daal


This is possibly one of my all time favourite Daal's. For those that aren't familiar with what Daal is, it's a curry using lentils. Most often Daal's are garnished with what is called a tharkaah, (pronounced thur-kah) which is crushed garlic browned off in butter separately, then added to the daal. Adding tharkaah makes your daal that little bit more indulgent and the overall aroma is far more pungent.

This daal is one that's made without a tharkaah, but is just as delicious. The tang of tomatoes, combination of the spices and toasted cumin left tingling on your tastebuds is heavenly. It's also quick and cheap to make too, and will easily feed a family of 4.

You'll need the following ingredients:

1 medium onion
1 tsp salt
6-8 cloves crushed garlic / 2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
2 x 400g tin red kidney beans/ 800g raw kidney beans soaked over night
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 green chillies 
1 tsp curry powder 
fresh chopped coriander (to garnish)


  • Chop your onions, and in a heavy based pan, fry in olive oil till golden brown, add the garlic & ginger, and chillies,* cook until the garlic & ginger has browned and chillies have softened.
  • Add in the tomatoes , curry powder & cumin seeds. Cook the mixture till it has slightly reduced and the tomatoes have slightly 'mushed'**
  • Add in your kidney beans, without draining them, then half fill one of the tins with boiled water and add the water to the pan.
  • leave to simmer on a low heat for about 10-15 minutes, add the chopped coriander and serve with boiled rice or chapatis 


*if you'd like your daal spicy, chop your chillies up as this releases more of their flavour, otherwise leave them whole.
** I like to leave the tomatoes slightly chunky, it gives a nice texture and brings out their flavour more



2 comments:

  1. I've made this twice now...once to the recipe which was gorgeous but the second time I tweaked it to our tastes a bit more and found it really adaptable.

    The second time I added an extra chilli - one chopped, two whole. I used passata as I don't like lumps of tomatoes and I used half kidney beans and half chickpeas. And it was great.

    I've always been a bit scared of cooked with spice, but this recipe has given me a great base that I can use with whatever I like :-)

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it , if your not keen on tomato chunks, you can use tomato purée as well .. About 3 tablespoons. Chickpeas are a definite yummy addition !

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