After doing a cooking class at Bohemian Masala, a restaurant and wellness resort in Varkala (their huts are the cutest), I decided that I had to share the recipes I learnt with you all!

Known for its fresh, organic produce and traditional cooking methods (they cook using wood fire), Bohemian Masala was the perfect place to learn how to make a great selection of Southern Indian dishes – and we were even lucky enough to cook in their live kitchen!

Although the spices and ingredients were complex, the cooking itself was surprisingly simple, which was very good news for me, whose cooking skills go as far as shoving all ingredients into a pan and sprinkling Old El Paso’s BBQ fajita mix onto them…
South Indian Dal Recipe - Spices - Girls vs GlobeSouth Indian Dal Recipe - Chef - Girls vs Globe

First up, I’m going to share with you the recipe for the well-known traditional Indian dish – dal.

Found throughout the whole of India, dal is one of the most common staple dishes in the country and is a great place to start when making an Indian feast or, a healthy lunch or dinner.

South Indian Dal Recipe - Cooking - Girls vs Globe

So, get your Indian chef hat on (I sure did) and follow these eight simple instructions to create a delicious South Indian dal…

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons of ghee
  • 4 slices of ginger
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 green chilli
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
  • 1 small tomato
  • 200g of boiled dal (any kind of dal works well)
  • 1 small cup of water
  • 1 teaspoon of turmeric
  • pinch of salt
  • coriander leaves

Method

  1. Rinse the dal and place it in a pan with double the amount of water to dal. Bring the mixture to the boil and leave it to cook for around 30 minutes. Once the lentils are soft, remove them from the heat.
  2. Put the ginger, garlic and chilli in a mortar and pestle and mush together until the ingredients becomes a fragrant paste.
  3. Put one tablespoon of ghee into a pan on low heat. Once hot, add the onion and cumin seeds and mix together.
  4. Add the small tomato cut into quarters, the boiled dal and one small cup of water and stir.
  5. Sprinkle a teaspoon of turmeric and a pinch of salt into the mix.
  6. Cover the dal and leave it to simmer on a low heat for around ten minutes.
  7. After ten minutes, add coriander leaves to taste and swirl a tablespoon of ghee on top (don’t stir it in).

South Indian Dal Recipe - Dal - Girls vs Globe

Et voila – you’ve made a yumtastic dal. Yes, I promise it tastes better than it looks… Enjoy with Indian bread, rice, other curries or even on its own!

Have you ever tried dal? Did you enjoy it? We’d love to hear your favourite recipes!