A 35-minute red lentil dal that tastes like it took all afternoon

This is the dal I cook when there is nothing in the fridge and everyone is hungry. Split red lentils (masoor dal) need no soaking and collapse into a creamy pot in about 20 minutes. The flavor comes almost entirely from the tadka, a spoonful of spices fried in fat and poured over at the end.

Serves 4. Active time: 15 minutes. Total time: 35 minutes.

Ingredients

For the dal

• 200 g (1 cup) split red lentils
• 1 litre (4¼ cups) water, plus more as needed
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 medium tomato, chopped, or 100 g (½ cup) canned chopped tomatoes
• 10 g (2 teaspoons) grated fresh ginger
• 1¼ teaspoons fine salt, or to taste
• Juice of ½ lemon

For the tadka

• 3 tablespoons ghee or neutral oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 dried red chilies, broken in half
• A pinch of asafoetida (optional)
• ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder or paprika

Method

1. Rinse the lentils in a sieve under cold water for about 30 seconds, until the water runs mostly clear. This washes off surface starch that otherwise foams up and boils over.
2. Put the lentils, water and turmeric in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, then lower to a steady simmer, partly covered.
3. After 10 minutes, add the tomato and ginger. Keep simmering, stirring now and then, for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the lentils have fallen apart completely.
4. Whisk hard for 20 seconds to make it creamy. Add water if it is thicker than you like; dal thickens a lot as it sits. Stir in the salt and lemon juice and keep warm.
5. For the tadka, heat the ghee in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, about 30 seconds, add the cumin seeds and dried chilies.
6. After 15 seconds, add the garlic. Stir until it is pale gold at the edges, about 45 seconds.
7. Take the pan off the heat. Add the asafoetida and chili powder, swirl once, and pour the whole thing over the dal immediately. It should hiss.

Serve with rice, flatbread or just a spoon.

Why the tadka goes in last

Most of the aromatic compounds in cumin, mustard seeds and garlic dissolve in fat, not water. Fry them in hot ghee and the fat pulls those flavors out and carries them across your tongue. Simmer the same spices in the lentil water for 20 minutes and they turn flat and muddy.

Timing also protects the delicate parts. Ground chili powder scorches in seconds at frying temperature, which is why it goes in off the heat. Garlic goes in after the seeds because it browns faster. The order looks fussy on paper; in practice it is under two minutes of standing at the stove.

Swaps and leftovers

• No ghee: use any neutral oil. Butter works, but watch it, since its milk solids burn faster than ghee.
• No mustard seeds: double the cumin.
• Greens: stir a few handfuls of spinach into the dal in the last two minutes of simmering.
• Yellow split peas or toor dal: they work, but need 45 to 60 minutes and more water.