Fake it til you make it Indian

I love Indian food, but rarely go out for it since I get homemade Indian whenever I visit my in-laws. But sometimes we have long stretches without a visit and the craving hits...

Now my disclaimer here is that this is fake Indian, because the spices are based on what I have in my kitchen and not on what actually goes into these dishes if made correctly. But it does the job!

My daal:
Red lentils
Garlic
Ginger
Turmeric
Garam masala
Salt
Peppercorns
Coriander seeds
Cumin seeds
Diced tomatoes
Bay leaves

Cook your lentils in plenty of salted water until soft.
In a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle, grind the coriander seeds, cumin and peppercorn.
In a frying pan, fry some minced garlic, ginger, your ground spices with plenty of turmeric and garam masala. If you want to make it spicy, add some diced chillis. Then add in some diced tomatoes (canned is fine). This should form a nice and well spiced paste, which you can then transfer to your cooked lentils. Add a bay leaf into the mix. Then let the whole thing simmer for about 10-20 minutes to let the taste settle in.

The paste in formation looks like this:




Play with the recipe, change the amount of water you cook the lentils in, the amount of spice... Just remember it's always easier to add more than take away after it's been added.

The finished product:





Serve it with bread or rice, and I always like to eat it with plain yogurt!