2 cup green or brown lentils
1 each cinnamon stick, 3
1 each bay leaf
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled, whole
2 slice ginger root, 1 thick
1 tsp turmeric
3/4 each lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
3 tbsp ghee
1 pinch asafetida
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
Directions
Wash lentils & drain. Combine with 6 cups water, cinnamon stick, bay
leaf, garlic cloves, ginger slices & turmeric. Bring to a boil, lower
heat & simmer for 40 minutes, till lentils are tender & the water has
been reduced significantly.
Slice lemon thinly & add to the pot with salt, black pepper & cayenne.
Simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Just before serving, heat ghee till hot, add asafetida & cumin seeds &
saute till the seeds begin to colour. Pour over top of dahl & serve
over rice.
Madhur Jaffrey, "An Invitation to Indian Cooking"
Servings: 1 servings
Lentil Dahl Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Indian; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to follow the history of transcribed cooking instructions way back into distant history, in truth as far back into recorded history as ancient Egypt, and potentially, even further back. In practice though, these, early recipes were just very basic hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing food.
In fact, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to Professor Solomon Katz, is a series of clay tablets in ancient Sumerian which recount the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who tried it feel `exhilarated, wonderful and blissful`. Progressing into Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius assembled a number of documents which described recipes enjoyed by wealthy Romans. In his publication, he tells us how the meals of wealthy Romans were split into hors d`oeuvre, main course and desserts, known in latin as `Gustatio, Primae Mensae and Secundae Mensae`. This early Roman chef informs us how the ancient cooks made use of many different spices, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks like bay, fennel and asafoetida. Later on, there were a couple of interesting cookery books which appeared in the fourteenth century - one book called `Forme of Cury`, and another entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these are not about the indian curry that is served today, but instead descriptions of the types of food on the tables of the rich and wealthy people of that period. Later on in the 1400s, knights returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including spices like coriander, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new tastes prompted a torrent in recipe books, the majority of which are kept safe in academic collections. For the centuries that followed, the upper-class families of the West tried to serve the most exotic meals, and because of this the best chefs and their recipes were highly sought after. However, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that cookery and cookery books reached a high level of popularity. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the USA, dedicated years of their lives to assembling, testing, and publishing recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. By the advent of the twentieth century, cookery publications were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, people having increased spare time and being a little richer. |
We hope you enjoy this Lentil Dahl recipe.
