Dal Tadka

Dal tadka is yellow lentils simmered soft and finished with a hot tempering of cumin, garlic and ghee poured over just before serving. It's India's everyday lentil dish, cooked in some form in nearly every household most days of the week, and it's built to be light and quick rather than the rich, slow-simmered dish dal makhani, its more famous restaurant cousin, is known for.

What it really is

Split yellow lentils — toor dal or moong dal, depending on the household — simmer with turmeric and a little water until they break down soft, sometimes whisked briefly to a looser consistency. Separately, a tadka — cumin seed, garlic and dried chilli fried quickly in hot ghee or oil until fragrant — pours over the finished lentils right before serving, the hot fat sizzling audibly as it hits the dal. That final sizzle is the whole technique the dish is named for.

Dal tadka is meant to be light and simple, not rich and restaurant-heavy like dal makhani. Dal makhani builds on whole black lentils and kidney beans slow-simmered with butter and cream into something dense and indulgent — dal tadka uses simpler split lentils and a quick, hot tempering rather than a long, creamy finish, and the two are genuinely different everyday-versus-special-occasion dishes rather than the same dal dressed up differently.

How it's served

• Hot, in a bowl, the tempering poured over and still sizzling as it arrives.
• With rice or roti, as an everyday main course.
• Often the simplest, most frequently cooked dish in an Indian household's weekly rotation.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the dairy from the ghee.
• Say if a vegan version, made with oil instead of ghee, is available.
• Note that it's the lighter, everyday version of dal, distinct from the richer dal makhani.