Uppma's Dhal, Greens & Jeera Rice

This is not just your standard dhal recipe, this is a FEAST with tadka dhal, greens and aromatic jeera rice. The flavours are so aromatic and reminiscent of food markets in India! Whether preparing an Indian-inspired dinner party, or just having a mate over on a weeknight...your friends will be super impressed by the flavours you've created!

You can find all the spices we use in the recipes in Uppma's Pantry (or your Mum's, if you are lucky!). Enjoy! 

Uppma's Dhal, Greens & Jeera Rice

Ingredients
For the Tadka
1 teaspoon Mum’s Garam Masala
1/4 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
1/4 teaspoon hing (asafoetida)
2 tablespoons ghee / butter / cooking oil
5 curry leaves
1/2 diced tomato
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or dried if you need!)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper

For the Dhal
1 cup dried dhal (lentils)

For the Jeera Rice
1 cup jasmine rice
A pinch of jeera (cumin seeds)
1/2 cup frozen peas

For the Aloo & Greens Sabji
2 large potatoes
2 tablespoons ghee / butter / cooking oil
1 small bunch of greens (spinach, silverbeet, kale)
1 tablespoon Mum’s Garam Masala
1 tablespoon dried ginger  

There's always a big jar of Mum's Garam Masala at our house!

Method

Tadka

1. Put ghee in a pan and turn on to medium heat.
2. Once it is hot, add the garam masala, curry leaves, ginger, salt, pepper, cumin seeds & hing.
3. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the diced tomato and cook until the tomato is soft and the oil and spices have separated. Keep warm as you'll be adding it to the lentils soon.

Dhal

1. Put Dhal (lentils) in a saucepan with 3 cups of water.
2. Bring to the boil and cook on medium heat until the lentils are soft and cooked through. You may need to add more water to the pot during this cooking time.
3. Once the Dhal is cooked, pour in the Tadka. You can add a little water to the Tadka pan to make sure you get all the spices out and into the lentils.
4. Mix well.

Jeera rice

1. Add rice, cumin seeds, frozen peas and 2 cups of water to a saucepan.
2. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer until rice is cooked through, stirirng occasionally.

Aloo & Greens Sabji

1. Peel & dice the potatoes.
2. Chop the greens roughly.
3. Put ghee in a pan (choose a pan with a lid). Once hot, add the garam masala and ginger. Saute for 2 minutes.
4. Add potatoes and stir. Put lid on to the pan.
5. Cook for about 20 minutes, making sure you mix everything every 5 minutes or so to stop the potatoes sticking to the bottom of the pan.
6. Add the greens and mix well to wilt all the greens and until they look cooked.
7. Take it off the heat.

To serve, put everything into their own seperate bowls so that you can add as much or as little of each as you wish to your plate.

Serve with roti and yoghurt. We only serve yoghurt at lunch…NEVER at dinner. Don’t ask me why, just one of those fun Indian Mum things!

P.S. If you love the look of this - why not join Uppma at one of her EatWith dinners? Follow this link to find out more about Uppma's vegetarian or vegan Indian feasts that she cooks up regularly in Sydney.