Tadka Dhal

A wonderful filling and nutritious with bursts of punchy flavours. I followed the recipe and did not change anything. This makes a sustainable vegetarian main dish and pairs wonderfully with the chickpea flour crepes also found on Epicurious.

• mel1710

• Manchester, UK

• 4/27/2019

How important is the sea salt to the recipe? I'm on a very low sodium diets and need to track the amount. But the recipe looks delicious!

• Anonymous

• Columbus, OH

• 5/2/2018

You're better off putting the cloves in cheesecloth unless you want to ruin a tooth while eating. And the cilantro is a non-starter for this "tastes-like-soap-gene" cook. Otherwise, this is fabulous.

• jture

• 2/26/2018

This is absolutely my go-to dal recipe. So flavorful. I keep it pretty close to the recipe as written, subbing in spices here and there depending on what I have. Sometimes I sub in coconut milk for some of the water when cooking the lentils. I add fresh curry leaves to the lentils if I have them. I've never put in any sugar. I cook Indian vegetarian a lot and have access to the amazing spice store Kalustyans so I have this stuff on hand - even got the black cardamom! As far as the complaints about the recipe - a clove is a clove and a clove of garlic is a clove of garlic. Made sense to me. And you can pull the larger spices out of the spice oil if you want - definitely leave in the mustard & cumin seeds though, those make it delicious.

• rubyclaire1

• NYC

• 7/18/2017

I have made this several times, and it is one of our favourite dishes (even for my husband, who is a redneck bacon-and-eggs type carnivore.) Definitely heed the advice of CThutt - and...it does appear that the angry mistakes below are moreso due to skill level or reading comprehension. If it confuses you, just take another read through. I check back on my recipes constantly, especially if they're new to me.

• bearmayor

• Prince George, BC

• 7/13/2017

I had to weigh in on this recipe so people who are about to try cooking their first pot of dhal will not be discouraged by the negative reviews. This is absolutely delicious and I have been making dhal this way, varying the spice mixture and the type of lentils, for over 40 years. Lentils cooked this way are part of a traditional Indian meal that has no counterpart in Western food culture. It's different. The essence of Indian cooking is the use of spices in combination that season the food. Many Indian dishes begin by flavoring the oil with spice mixtures in which the solid food will be cooked. Dhal, on the other hand, pours the flavored oil and spices over the cooked lentils. That flavored oil is the "secret sauce" of a delicious and healthy dish of dhal. About those whole spices: No, don't eat the big stuff. Push it to the side of your plate. The tiny spices, like the mustard seeds and cumin seeds, Yes; eat those. Spices have many healthful benefits and aid digestion. About the oil and burnt garlic: Heat the oil gently, hard spices first to release their oils into the vegetable oil, then a gentle and quick hand with the soft stuff (garlic, ginger, tomatoes). You don't want to burn this, just sizzle it into the oil and pour it over your lentils. Vegetable oil is fine, but if you want a real taste treat, cook those spices in ghee (clarified butter). Amazing taste treat! If you love Indian food, please try this. It is really good and good for you.

• cthutt

• North of Napa

• 5/2/2017

This recipe just doesn't pan out on many levels. Why would you instruct someone to pour oil containing whole cloves, whole sticks of cinnamon and cardamom pods into their food? Just so they'll have to dig them out before eating? You wouldn't want to chomp down on any of those things, now would you? And the cooking instructions for the yellow lentils are highly suspect, too. You're cruisin' for burnt lentils. Luckily, I know enough about Indian food to figure out what this recipe is supposed to be about, but this could REALLY screw up novice cooks. The only thing I can figure out is that this was badly translated from its native language and lost a lot along the way. Clean it up, Epi. And DO fix your print function.

• worldbeat

• Oakland, CA

• 6/16/2016

Atrocious recipe! I made it twice and had to throw it away both times. Sloppily written, that's why you end up with burned garlic cloves instead of spice clove. Amazing how you can mess up such a simple traditional recipe. The water, quantities and the timing are way off. Since it is not clear on what to do with the whole cooked seeds of some spices you end up with inedible bits in your food or additional half an hour trying to fish them out the unattractive stew. The result is dry or bland if you keep adding liquid, with contradictory and overwhelming spice combination, bitter and basically inedible. Throw the recipe, the book and the cook! away!

• pavlusha

• Queens, NY

• 4/21/2016

To M2CH2017 - the "6 cloves" refers to the spice clove, not a clove of garlic. This means 6 whole cloves. The only garlic is the two cloves of garlic called for later in the recipe.

• Anonymous

• Boston

• 2/24/2016

This was pretty good although mine did not turn out like the picture but that's die to the fact that I only had green lentils. I bet once I actually make the recipe with yellow lentils, it will be much better.

• cybermarissa

• 2/24/2016

Wow, this was so delicious!Made according to instructions, but didn't have black cardamom or back mustard seeds (used yellow mustard seeds instead). Incredible flavor combinations. Mixed some shrimp in the lentils and served over brown rice. So easy, will definitely make again.

• neologique

• 2/21/2016

Looks good, but recipe not written in logical order. And is that 6 cloves or 6 cloves of garlic? Question because it calls for two additions of garlic. And why when I try to print an EPICURIOUS recipe does it require 4 pages???? Most sites would but this on one page, or two at the most.

• m2ch2017

• Spokane Valley, WA

• 2/18/2016