What's the Secret of "Smokey" Tarka Dhal?

[Lakrasia]

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.

[Onions]

Maybe the liquid smoke was too strong? It has to be used soooo gently I find.

Even so, the charcoal method dpes still give tasty results, if if perhaps not the exact one. Well worth doing  Lakrasia- and good fun experimenting eh!

[Lakrasia]

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

[Donald Brasco]

Hi Linda. Not sure what tales have been spun to you but it's not credible that BIRs use charcoal plonked into their pans and liquid smoke is just not the kind of ingredient a penny pinching restauranteur would have on the shelf. Bir is about cheap ingredients cooked to extract maximum flavour.

Tarka dhal's distinctive flavour, common to all good BIRs is simply from the unsubtle approach taken by the average time pressured bir chef towards frying garlic.

Murder your garlic and dump it into the lentils and you'll find the flavour you're seeking.

[curryhell]

I would tend to agree that the smokiness will come from the very well cooked BUT NOT BURNT garlic tarka.  Have a look at this video 

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,7870.0.html

[Onions]

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

It would be like Xmas arriving early.

Cheers
Linda

Sorry! No way do I know. Well it's basically the caramelisation. So heat + rest + rapidity of movement. In the later later stages.
Just realised I was talking about a nordinary curry but yeah Donald hits the nails on the head1
Sorry Linda.

[vinotinto]

Whilst not BIR, Rick Steins program on India did show a curry being prepared with a hot charcoal placed on top and then a lid placed over.  Can't remember if it was a tarka dhal

[976bar]

Simply add some Smoked Paprika to the spice mix you are frying at the beginning will give a lovely smokey flavour. See my Dhansak recipe

[redman1212]

I went on a cookery course some time ago at the Lasan restaurant in Birmingham. One of the dishes we made was tarka dal, which was wonderfully smoky. The tarka was pretty simple. Very hot oil, 1tsp cumin seeds, add about 5 finely sliced cloves of garlic, allow to brown, add pinch of hing, chilli powder (1tsp) and 1/2 tsp haldi and after a short time two chopped tomatoes. Allow the tomato to breakdown somewhat and then add to the dal (a mixture of channa, red split, urid and toor dals)

For me the smokiness comes from frying the combination of cumin seeds and garlic

[chewytikka]

The clue is in the title Tarka Dhal

The old school BIR method is a simple recipe! still used today!
Red split lentils, Salt, Haldi, plenty of browned garlic and Coriander leaf.

If you want it extra Smokey, blacken some dried red chillis in the Butter Ghee Tarka.

I did a video recipe 5 years ago for those interested in trying to recreate at home.

https://vimeo.com/22419450

N.B. simple recipes and methods = equals consistent BIR products/dishes.

cheers Chewy.