Subject: Re: Help with South Indian cooking

From: [email-masked] (Padma Verma)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 14:43:36 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
(Craig1962) wrote:

> When back home in the UK a while back I bought a great S. Indian cookbook
> called "Dakshin".  Many of the recipes call for "tempering" - frying some
> dals and spices which are then mixed into the dish.  My problem is that
> the larger dals do not seem to cook through and remain hard.  Should I
> presoak them - it's usually only a couple of teaspoonfuls - or keep the
> oil temperature low so that they cook through without burning?  Which is
> best, or is there another way?
> 
> Any help would be much appreciated!
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Craig Alexander

Hi Craig,

No you don't need to soak the dals first. Heat the oil (I use second or
third highest setting, medium high or medium low, on an electric stove) 
and add the daals (channa and urad) to the oil first and let them cook.
The urad daal will start to turn a little red. Add the other spices then,
usually cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, and asafoetida. I am a great fan
of the book 'Dakshin' too.

Padma