Dal bhat
Local name : दाल भात
Steamed rice with a turmeric lentil soup, finished with a sizzling tempering of ghee, garlic and cumin.
Photo : Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 55 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
- Rinse the lentils three times, then put them in a pan with 900 ml water, the turmeric, ginger and tomato.
- Bring to the boil, skim off the foam, then simmer partly covered for 25 to 30 minutes until the lentils collapse completely.
- Meanwhile rinse the rice and cook it in 550 ml salted water: bring to the boil, then 12 minutes covered on the lowest heat, and 10 minutes resting off the heat.
- Salt the lentils and whisk them briskly into a smooth, pourable soup, loosening with hot water if it thickens too much.
- In a small pan, heat the ghee and sizzle the cumin seeds and dried chilli for 20 seconds.
- Add the garlic and onion, let them brown for 3 minutes, then pour the tempering into the lentils and cover at once to trap the aroma.
- Serve a mound of rice on each plate with the lentil soup alongside, plus coriander and a wedge of lemon.
In Nepal dal bhat is eaten twice a day with a seasonal vegetable and a pickle. The golden rule: the soup should be loose enough to drink from a spoon, never thick like a purée.
