Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia · Volume 07, The Reef, the Earth Oven and the Girmit Table
Fiji Dhal
Indo-Fijian
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 1 hour
- Researched
- 9 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A blend of split toor, masoor and urad, stored dry in bulk, cooked down with vegetables and spice, then finished with a separately fried tempering folded in at the end rather than built into the base.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. Prep 10 minutes, cook about 1 hour.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup mixed toor, masoor and urad dal (roughly equal parts)
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed, plus 1 whole clove
- a sprig fresh curry leaves
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
- a pinch a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus 3 tbsp ghee
- as available optional vegetables: carrot, eggplant, tomato, green beans, cauliflower, leafy greens
Method
- Soak the lentils 15 to 20 minutes.
- Boil the lentils with any vegetables, turmeric and 2 cups water over medium heat for about 1 hour, topping up water and stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to break down.
- Separately, fry curry leaves in the oil, add asafoetida, cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds until aromatic and popping, then the onion until crisp-brown, then the garlic until golden.
- Fold the tempering carefully into the cooked dhal, cover briefly to let the aromas settle, then stir through the ghee and fresh coriander to finish.
What a modern chef changes
The tempering treated as its own dish, layered rather than stirred in flat
Rung 5
Method
- Cook the lentils sous vide, sealed with the vegetables and turmeric at 90°C for 2 hours, for a more evenly broken-down texture than a stovetop simmer, which can catch and scorch at the bottom of the pan if left unattended.
- Build the tempering in stages rather than one pan, frying the curry leaves and whole seeds first and setting them aside crisp, then browning the onion and garlic separately to a deeper colour than a single combined fry allows, layering the components back over the finished dhal rather than folding everything through evenly, for a dish with visible, differentiated texture on top rather than a uniform stir-through.
- Finish with cold ghee whisked through off the heat, not hot ghee poured over, for a rounder, less immediately volatile finish that holds its aroma longer at the table.