Recipe from Mrs Rajappa (Subadra’s mom).
“This is one of my favorites and will blow your mind if you do it right! It’s a main course vegetarian Indian dish, or Indian DE-lish as I say (HA! I kill me!).” – Karl Schultz
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup whole black lentils
- 2 tablespoons dried kidney beans
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (not powder)
- 2 green chilies, split lengthwise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2-3 cloves
- 3-4 cardamom
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1 fresh ginger (1/2 inch), peeled
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 14 ounces whole tomatoes
- 1/2-3/4 cup cream
- 2 cups water
- 2-3 tablespoons butter
- cilantro/coriander, chopped
- salt, to taste
Preparation:
Clean, wash and soak the whole black lentils and kidney beans overnight. Drain and keep aside.
Combine the lentils and beans with salt and 2 cups of water and cook till the lentils are soft. If you use canned kidney beans instead of dried, cook the lentils in 1 1/2 cups of water until nice and soft and then mix in the kidney beans.
Alternatively, if you have a pressure cooker, you can skip steps 1 and 2 and cook the dried beans and lentils together for 11 minutes after the first burst of steam.
In a food processor, purée the tomatoes, ginger and garlic gloves. Set the mixture aside.
Heat the butter in a large frying pan. USE BUTTER AND NOT OIL!!!!! Once the butter is melted, add the cumin seeds and heat until the cumin seeds crackle. Add the chillies, the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and diced onion and sauté until the onions are a nice golden brown. Add the chilli powder, the turmeric powder and the puréed tomato mixture. Cook over a medium flame for 10 to 15 minutes until the oils separate from the tomatoes. Add the lentils and beans. Strain them if they are too watery. Add salt to flavor and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the cream and the diced cilantro/coriander.
Serve hot with Basmati rice.