Looking for a quick recipe to wow your friends? Why not try out this festive dahl curry recipe that will transport your taste buds to Sri Lanka! This homely and warming dahl recipe was created by the celebrated fusion chef Caleb Joseph, 🤩 as seen on TV 🤩 in our special episode of Festive Kitchen filmed in his restaurant, Colombo 16 on the South Coast.
Join Caleb as he shows us how to make this festive crowd-pleaser on the programme here, and scroll down for the recipe. Once you’ve cooked up your own, let us know how it went and send us your photos via WhatsApp so we can see how you did!
The Curry Recipe
Dahl Curry Ingredients
1 cup red split lentils
2.5 cups water divided
2 red onions, chopped
1 tsp ginger
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 sprigs of curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp salt
1 pinch of dill seeds
½ cup full-fat coconut milk
Dahl Curry Recipe
Wash the red lentils until the water runs clear.
Into a pot, add: red lentils, 1.5 cups of water, ½ the chopped onions, curry leaves, minced ginger, sliced garlic, turmeric powder, cumin powder, and coriander powder.
Bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium, cover the pot and cook the lentils until all the water is absorbed and the lentils are cooked through.
This will take around 15–20 minutes.
Tempering ingredients
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 red or green chili, sliced
1 sprig of curry leaves
Tempering Recipe
In a pan, heat the oil and add the other 1/2 of chopped onions, cumin seeds, curry leaves, and the sliced chilli.
Once golden, add the mustard seeds. Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop.
Bring it all together…
Pour the tempering into the cooked Dahl. Add the coconut milk, salt and stir to combine.
Cover and let it all simmer for five minutes. Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed or more coconut milk if you require a thinner consistency.
Serve Dahl with rice, roti or even some fresh bread. We finished ours off with a drizzle of coriander oil and some crispy curry leaves.Â
* chef’s kiss *
And if baking is more your thing, don’t forget to check out Martha Collison’s wonderful orange chocolate crackle cookies baking recipe too!
