Daal Fry Malaysian Mamak Style

Daal Fry Malaysian Mamak Style

Super slow cook, be ready to put in the time for this one but look forward to a good result in the end.  

The proportion of daal / yellow lentils  to water depends on how much gravy you want versus how much chunky daal.  Some people like it chunky, I prefer a lot of gravy for my rice / roti so I use about 4:1 daal to water ratio. 

The night before you start your daal, leave it to soak in water overnight.  Make sure there is at least 1 inch of water above the lentils when you soak it. 

Pan Fry in a lot of oil the following ingredients until almost liquefied (maybe 10-15 mins): 

• whole dried chillies ( as many as you like min. 3)
•  star anise x1  cloves 3 or 4 whole + cinnamon stick or cardamom buds if you have em
• 1 onion chopped small pieces
• big chunk of ginger minced
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 or 3 carrots
• 1 chinese eggplant in no more than 3 large chunks
• 1 or 2 tomatoes in large chunks
• large spoonful of tumeric
• large spoonful of curry powder
• teaspoon of salt
• teaspoon white pepper(optional)

Now you are ready to put in the lentils.  Pan fry them until the onion /curry paste coats the lentils and then add water or vegetable stock, bring to boil and then reduce on low to simmer for what seems like an eternity.

The longer you wait, the better it will taste probably. Let the lentils really liquefy and help it on its way with some hard stirring and constantly topping up water.  

A minimum indicator when the dish is ready is when the large eggplant chunks are no longer visible and have fully liquefied.  

This is what most of the people in South Asia survive off of and feeds literally billions every day.  Poor people will survive off of one plate of rice and daal for a full day of hard labor.  It is best served with achar or indian pickle, chutney, raita (yogurt), some lime or cucumber, chillies or curd chillies