This recipe comes from “150 curries” by Mridula Baljekar. The title is somewhat misleading, since only about half of the recipes are curries.

The recipe is strange in that almost all measurements are volumetric. How much does 2.5 ml of salt weigh? No idea, but I'm sure it's off by almost an order of magnitude: I measured 17 g salt. The recipe below shows my best guesses, though the result (first photo) didn't quite look like the photo in the recipe (but then, recipe photos frequently bear little relationship to the ingredients):

Image title: Masala channa          Dimensions:          4611 x 3456, 3840 kB Make a single page with this image Hide this image Make this image a thumbnail Make thumbnails of all images on this page Make this image small again Display small version of all images on this page All images taken on Sunday, 18 October 2015, thumbnails          All images taken on Sunday, 18 October 2015, small Diary entry for Sunday, 18 October 2015 Complete exposure details

 

Image title: channa photo          Dimensions:          1613 x 1874, 7664 kB Make a single page with this image Hide this image Make this image a thumbnail Make thumbnails of all images on this page Make this image small again Display small version of all images on this page All images taken on Sunday, 18 October 2015, thumbnails          All images taken on Sunday, 18 October 2015, small Diary entry for Sunday, 18 October 2015

 

Ingredients

quantity		ingredient		step
250 g		channa dal		1
200 g		onion		3
20 g		ginger		3
20 g		garlic		3
16 g		chili		3
2 g		whole cumminseed		4
		oil for frying		4
8 g		cumminseed		5
12 g		coriander		5
3 g		turmeric powder		5
400 g tin		tomatoes		6
30 g		tamarind extract		6
17 g		salt		6
5 g		garam masala		7
50 g		onion, finely chopped as garnish		8
10 g		green chili, finely chopped as garnish		8

Makes 18

Steps

1. Put dal into boiling water and boil for two minutes. Leave to stand for two hours.
2. Change water and boil channa for one hour.
3. Purée the onion, ginger, garlic and ginger.
4. Fry cumminseed in oil until it starts to splutter (about 220°). Add the onion mixture and fry until the oil starts to separate.
5. Meanwhile, grind the spices. When the onion mixture is oily, add the spices and fry until warm.
6. Purée tomatoes and mix with tamarind paste and salt. Add to the mixture and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Drain the dal and add it to the spice mixture, adding water if it doesn't cover. Cook for another hour or until almost cooked.
8. Add garam masala and cook for another 5 minutes.
9. Serve with chopped onion and chili as garnish.