Nepalese recipe
How to make Dal bhat
दाल भात
All of Nepal
The national meal: steamed rice (bhat) with a thin lentil soup (dal), served with vegetable curry, pickle and sometimes meat.
Ingredients
- 300 g long-grain rice
- 200 g red or yellow lentils, rinsed
- 1 litre water for the lentils
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 tablespoons ghee or oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 small piece ginger, grated
- 1 tomato, chopped
- Salt and a handful of fresh coriander
Method
- Rinse the rice and cook it in about 600 ml of water with a lid on, on low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the water is absorbed.
- Put the lentils in a pot with 1 litre of water, the turmeric and a pinch of salt. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until soft, stirring now and then, and add water if it gets too thick.
- In a small pan heat the ghee, add the cumin seeds and, when they sizzle, the garlic and ginger. Fry for a minute, then add the tomato and cook until soft.
- Pour the hot ghee mixture into the lentils, stir, season with salt and scatter over the coriander.
- Serve the rice in the middle of the plate with the dal in a bowl beside it, and add a vegetable curry and a spoon of pickle if you have them.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Nepalis often flavour the dal by frying jimbu, a dried Himalayan herb, in ghee and pouring it over the lentils.
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