Red Mung Dal

Mung dal is a naturally yellowy green colour, but this combines red spices and ingredients to give a distinctively rich coloured (and flavoured) dal. If you're looking for subtlety and delicate flavourings, give this a miss: it's a whammy of a dal but ideal for something as strong and rich as beef madras.

Ingredients

• 200g split mung dal
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp coriander
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 small red onion, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli
• Oil

Rinse the dal and then place in a pan together with a litre of water and bring to a boil, skimming off any brown foam from the surface. Turn the heat to low and stir in the turmeric and the salt. Partly cover the pan (if you fully cover it you’ll be playing ‘wash the dal off the top of the cooker’ in no time) and let it cook away for 40 minutes or so, giving it the occasional stir. While that’s cooking, halve the onion: chop one half finely and slice the other half finely. In a small pan, fry the sliced onion in oil until it browns and crisps up. Reserve. In the same pan, heat a little more oil and then add the chopped onion, the chilli, the garlic and the spices. Cook these up for a couple of minutes and then stir into the dal. Heat through and stir until you’re happy you’ve got a nice, thick, rich dal and then serve with the browned onion to garnish.