At a loss for what to cook the other night, I conjured up this recipe! The result was my husband and kids were full of praise! The bonus? It was super easy to cook.
Since Black lentils are fairly hard and take time to cook, I prefer to cook this dish in a pressure cooker. If you don't have one, don't worry. Just use a deep pot with a heavy bottom and monitor closely, adding water as required to get the right consistency for the dish.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 1 cup split Kaali daal/ Split Black lentils (wash thoroughly and soak in enough hot water to cover the lentils, for half an hour)
- 1 kg boneless/ filleted chicken (I usually use thigh fillet)
- 3 tbsps vegetable/ sunflower/ canola cooking oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 onions sliced
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 2 tbsps garlic paste
- 2 tsps coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 4 large tomatoes chopped fine or 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- Salt to taste
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- Coriander leaves to garnish
Preparation:
- Heat the cooking oil in a deep pan (on medium heat). When hot, add the cumin seeds. Fry till the spluttering stops.
- Add the onions and fry (stirring often) till they begin to turn pale golden in color.
- Now add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for a minute.
- Next, add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, red chilli and garam masala powder and fry till the oil separates from the masala. Stir often to prevent the masala from sticking to the vessel and burning.
- Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring often.
- Now add the chicken, salt to taste and stir well. Fry till browned.
- Now pour out the soaking water from the lentils and add them to the pot. Stir well and add 3 cups of water. If you are using a pressure cooker, this is the time to put on the lid and cook till you have heard 3-4 whistles. The daal/ lentils should be done by now. Turn off the heat and allow the steam to release and open the pressure cooker.
- If you are using a pot to cook the Murg Kaali Daal, you need to let the daal/ lentils come to a boil after adding the water and then simmer, cover the pot and cook till the daal/ lentils is soft. The end consistency of this dish needs to be like thick porridge so keep checking to see if you need to add more water. Add hot water as required, to maintain the right consistency, till the daal/ lentils is cooked.
- Once cooked, add the lime juice, stir well and garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve with plain boiled rice and a vegetable side dish.
