Cooking with Swarn - Lentils

Last week's Indian cooking class was a lesson in dal (lentils). Swarn laid out a bunch of different types to show us. Seriously? There are types of lentils? We were making Dal Tadka which needed Moong and/or Masoor Dal.  Amy explained, the confusion with Indian recipes is, when a recipe calls for Moong Dal, how do you know which kind? Which kind? There are now kinds within the types? There's whole lentils, split lentils with the shell, split lentils without the shell. Oh my! No wonder I don't cook!

Once I recovered from the dal shock, it was time to get cooking. Swarn decided it was time for us to make a dessert. And who am I to turn down something sweet. On the dessert menu, was Shahi Tukra. The best way to describe it, is fried bread with cream!

I told you there was cream. We've got full cream milk and sweetened condensed milk that we have to reduce. 

Yes, fried bread!

Place a layer of bread, sprinkle slivered almonds and raisins. Pour over the reduced cream, layer again and repeat.

Swarn decided to make it look pretty with edible foil. 

Now, we didn't come to class to learn how to make dessert only, and after our dal lesson it meant time to make the dal. The lentils were rinsed then placed in a pressure cooker. Swarn told us we could make it in a regular pot, it would just take a little longer. While the lentils cooked, we made the rest of the dal.

We've got tomatoes, onions, chillis and spices.

The dal.

Combine the two, sprinkle some chopped coriander, and yummy!

While these are all fun and delicious, let's be honest. I can't make these! I need something easy! So Swarn brought out another dish for us to make. Bund Gobi with Matar. Cabbage with peas. 

Just like I said, cabbage and peas. Yummy.

And no Indian meal would be complete without the roti! 

Flour, salt and oil.

Add water while you knead.

And roti!!!!!

Have I mentioned how much I love these classes. And for the record, I did some measuring today. That should count as cooking, shouldn't it?