Hi Onions,

I used just the right amount of liquid smoke, but the taste was all wrong. My experiment with charcoal ended up with something that tasted of paraffin - guess I didn't manage to burn off all the accelerant, but even so, I believe you when you say they don't do that in most restaurants.

I have tried every variation of frying onions, garlic, mustard seeds and dried curry leaves, both individually and together. I use butter ghee for frying. I have tried every degree of cooking, from golden brown to quite burnt. Not one experiment has produced anything remotely like the tarka dal that 90% of BIR's serve.

Onions, if you know the answer, PLEASE can you tell us?

It would be like Xmas arriving early.

Cheers
Linda

Really? Oh no, I thought I'd finally figured it out. 

There are lots of sites out there claiming that's how to do it. I haven't had any success with onions or garlic, but I guess it's back to the drawing board and try again and again...

BTW I made dal this afternoon and sampled a little with a dash of liquid smoke and it really wasn't right.

I have searched for many years and tried so many recipes without getting anywhere near that magical flavour  Finally I know why I could never succeed - it's done using charcoal burning in a dish floating in the saucepan of dal. To my surprise there are a lot of videos and photos and instructions out there and I cannot fathom why I never came across anything before except lots of other foodies on the same quest.

My favourite dal recipe so far is this one: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/02/how-to-cook-perfect-dal, though it doesn't mention charcoal once.

I might try liquid smoke first and then a chunk of charcoal from a disposable barbecue. Then I can compare the results.

Anyway, here is the answer we've all been hoping for...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVzT1AQcGqk

Thanks - I tried it, but found it to be rather bland and sweet. In the end I added cumin and coriander and a pinch of chilli powder to try and give it some depth, but even so, it was disappointing. I followed the recipe precisely, except that I missed out the potato.