Recipe of the Week: Tarka Dhal

Emma and I try to eat a lot of vegetarian food. Not so much because of animal rights issues, or environmental issues, which are solid reasons. I eat vegetarian food for a selfish reason: it makes me feel good. No question that 30 minutes after eating a fat steak or a vegetarian meal, I feel so much better after the vegetarian meal. The problem for many folks is finding good vegetarian recipes. No flavor, you claim. Not to fear—there are a ton of very flavorful vegetarian dishes. If you want great, great vegetarian food, look no farther than India.

The recipe of the week is a lentil dish with a hot oil seasoning folded in before eating and a fantastic garnish. This makes about 3 or 4 servings.

3/4 cup yellow split peas
2 cups water
2 tsp minced/grated ginger
2 tsp minced/crushed garlic
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 fresh green chiles, serrano or jalapeño, w/ or w/out seeds, depending on your heat tolerance
1 tsp salt

Tarka:
2 tsp vegi oil
1 onion, sliced
4 dried chiles
1 tomato, sliced

Garnish:
1 – 2 Tbsp fresh mint
1 – 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro
1 fresh serrano or jalapeño, sliced in thin rings

Boil the split peas in the water with the ginger, garlic, turmeric, chiles, and salt for about 20 minutes or until soft. Mash the mixture with a potato masher or throw it in the blender for a few seconds.

To prepare the tarka, heat the oil and fry the onion, dried red chiles and sliced tomato for about 3 minutes. Poor the tarka over the dhal and garnish with the fresh herbs and chiles. Serve.