Lemon-Cumin Dal

From Ruhlman’s Twenty, Michael Ruhlman, Chronicle Books, 2011.

This particular recipe in Ruhlman’s Twenty was to illustrate the effect of acidity on a dish.

I used 100g mung beans and 25g black-eyed peas and cooked them together in a saucepan with 400ml water. They were brought to the boil and then simmered for almost an hour. The water now had almost gone and the beans were tender.

Now I measured out ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric and ½ teaspoon cayenne. With these I added a chopped garlic clove and a little grated fresh ginger. I heated a tablespoon gee in a small frying pan and when it was bubbling added the ingredients for about ½ minute. They were then added to the beans.

The beans were now tasted and they needed a little salt. I took the beans off the heat and added juice of half a lemon, the acidic element. The difference between the pre-lemon and the post-lemon was truly noticeable. From tasty but rather dull the dal suddenly took on a liveliness.

This was a pleasant dal. It was a change to have the texture of beans rather than the usual dal where all has dissolved into a type of puree.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔