Dal Chawal (Indian lentils and rice) recipe

Directions

For the lentils

1. Soak the dal in cold water for 45 minutes to an hour. "You soak the dal to get rid of the starch, or it'll be sticky," Seema says, scrunching her face in displeasure. Now would be a good time to get your rice washed and soaking (see below).
2. Drain the dal, give it a quick rinse, and bring it to a boil with the 5 cups water and the 1 teaspoon salt. Skim the foam off the top if you want. (I do out of habit, Seema doesn't. It doesn't taste like much.) Turn it down to a moderate bubble and cover, leaving a crack for evaporation. (The amount of water doesn't actually matter, Seema says, because if it's too loose for you, you can always just uncover it and let it reduce, and if it's too thick, you can just add more water.) Take a peek once in a while to make sure it's not bubbling violently, but pretty much you can just hang out for about 40 minutes, uncovering it for the last 10. Give your mom a call. She misses you.
3. Check on the dal, which by now will have lost its Sunkist sparkle and be a mustardy yellow. If most of the lentils have dissolved and you're looking at a loose soup roughly the texture of a thin batter, get ready to make your entire house smell amazing.
4. In a heavy-bottom pan, get the oil hot enough over medium-high heat so that it just barely shimmers and flows as quickly as water. Add the black mustard seeds. When you start hearing them pop, add the cumin. As it sizzles, add the garlic and swirl the pan to coat it in the oil. Seema says, "I like it when the garlic cooks slow," which toasts it evenly, bringing out its sweet notes without burning it. She does this by lifting her pan half a foot above her flame and swirls it, but you can just turn your heat down a little and stir, until the hissing turns into a slow sizzle. Cook it until it turns even golden brown, and you begin to wonder if you're going to smell like this food for the rest of your life.
5. Once the garlic is ready, add a few dashes of asafetida. Note that the name of this spice contains the word "fetid." That's not a mistake. It stinks like brimstone. But when you cook it in hot oil, the funk disappears and leaves a mellow, oniony flavor that accents the garlic and undergirds all the spices. So use it! Just bear with it for a second. Then add the chilies until they wilt, the turmeric, the ½ teaspoon salt and cilantro.
6. When the cilantro is wilted, dump everything in the pan into the dal. Seema likes to make sure it all gets in there by actually dunking her pan into the pot, but unless your pans are scrupulously clean on the bottom, maybe just use your spoon. "Now turn up the heat and boil it together so it looks like one," she says, pointing toward the slicks of oil floating to the top. I gear up in my head an explanation about emulsification, the starch helping to bind the oil and water as the oil slicks start to disappear, but then she says, "See, it thickens it a bit, too." And I realize there's nothing more that need be said about that.

For the rice

1. Wash the rice by soaking it in a big bowl of cold water and swirling it with your hands. The water will cloud with starch. Pour it off and repeat until the water is clear, around five or six times. Now drain the rice well -- using a strainer -- and soak it in the cooking water for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
2. # Pour the rice soaking water into the rice cooker and turn on. When it's boiling, add the rice, salt, and ghee or butter. Put cumin seeds into the palm of your hand, and with the heel of the other, crush them into the rice lightly, as if wringing your hands with worry. But don't worry. This is going to be great. Cover and let the rice cooker do its magic. li>
3. If you don't have a rice cooker, reduce the water to 1¾ cups. Boil the water in a heavy oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add the rice, salt, ghee and cumin as above, and bring back to a boil. Cover and pop into a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes, then take out and fluff lightly. (By the way, for Luddites and other rice-cooker-free folk, cooking rice in the oven really is the way to go. For more on that, look here.)