Dal Bhat

Nepal's twice-daily plate: a soupy lentil dal poured over rice with a seasonal vegetable curry, greens and pickle around the rim

Origin: Kathmandu & the Nepal Himalaya

From the journey of Lentils.

Dal bhat is not a recipe so much as the shape of a Nepali day. It is eaten twice, at mid-morning and in the evening, by most of the country, and the phrase dal bhat power, twenty-four hour is a trekking-trail joke that porters carrying sixty kilogrammes up a hill do not find especially funny. The plate is a set of components rather than a single dish: rice in the centre, a bowl of thin lentil dal poured over it, a vegetable tarkari, a green such as mustard leaf or spinach, a pickle, and a small mound of something sour or hot at the edge. The dal is the part that carries the meal and it is deliberately thin. Nepali dal is soupier than most Indian versions, seasoned lightly, and finished with a jhaneko, a tempering of ghee with fenugreek seed, dried chilli, garlic, and sometimes timur, the Sichuan pepper that grows in the Nepali hills and gives a faint numbing tingle found nowhere else in South Asian cooking. Black lentils, split mung, and masoor are all used, and households mix them. The rice is poured over rather than eaten beside, and mixed with the right hand, and a Nepali plate is refilled without asking until the eater signals that they have finished. Refusing a second serving takes a certain firmness. Above about two and a half thousand metres, where rice will not grow and has to be carried up, dhido, a stiff porridge of millet or buckwheat flour, takes the place of the bhat and the rest of the plate stays the same. What makes the meal work nutritionally is the pairing rather than either half: rice supplies the methionine that lentils lack, lentils the lysine that rice lacks, and the combination is a complete protein. Half the world has arrived at that pairing independently, and Nepal eats it more consistently than almost anywhere.

Ingredients

Dal

250 g black lentils (kalo dal) or split mung, rinsed
1.2 litres water
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

Jhaneko

3 tbsp ghee or mustard oil
0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
3 dried red chillies
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small onion, finely sliced
0.5 tsp timur (Nepali Sichuan pepper), crushed, optional

Bhat

400 g rice, for the bhat

Tarkari

500 g seasonal vegetables such as potato, cauliflower and beans, in chunks
2 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp ground turmeric

Saag

200 g mustard greens or spinach, chopped

To serve

4 tbsp lime or tomato pickle, to serve

Method

Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear, then simmer them with the water, turmeric, and ginger, uncovered, for thirty to forty minutes.
Skim the foam off in the first ten minutes. Nepali dal is thin, so do not let it reduce to a purée; top up with hot water if it thickens too far.
Season with salt only once the lentils have softened, since salting early keeps them firm.
Cook the rice by any method you like, plain and unsalted.
Make the tarkari: heat the mustard oil until it smokes, cool it slightly, then crackle the cumin. Add the vegetables, coriander, turmeric, and salt, and cook covered with a splash of water for fifteen to twenty minutes until tender.
Wilt the greens quickly in a little oil with garlic and salt and set aside.
Now make the jhaneko, and make it last. Heat the ghee in a small pan until properly hot.
Add the fenugreek seeds and let them turn a shade darker, which takes seconds. Fenugreek burnt black turns the whole dal bitter, so watch it closely.
Add the dried chillies, garlic, and onion, and fry until the garlic is golden. Add the timur off the heat.
Pour the whole tempering into the dal, which will hiss, and put the lid on for two minutes so the aroma is trapped.
Serve on a plate or thali: rice in the middle, dal in its own bowl to be poured over, and the tarkari, saag, and pickle around the rim.
Mix the dal into the rice with the fingers of the right hand as you eat, a section at a time, rather than mixing the whole plate at once.

Notes

The dal is meant to be soupy rather than thick, which is what distinguishes a Nepali dal from most Indian ones; it should pour over rice rather than sit on it. The jhaneko goes in at the very end and is the difference between a good dal and a dull one, so make it in a separate pan and add it hot. Watch the fenugreek seeds, which take seconds to go from fragrant to bitter and cannot be rescued. Timur is the Nepali Sichuan pepper and is worth seeking out from a Nepali grocer, since it is what makes the plate taste of Nepal rather than of northern India. Above the rice line, dhido made from millet or buckwheat flour replaces the bhat entirely.

The Gastrographer

Name: Dal Bhat
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Kathmandu & the Nepal Himalaya
Ingredients: 250 g black lentils (kalo dal) or split mung, rinsed; 1.2 litres water; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste; 3 tbsp ghee or mustard oil; 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds; 3 dried red chillies; 5 garlic cloves, sliced; 1 small onion, finely sliced; 0.5 tsp timur (Nepali Sichuan pepper), crushed, optional; 400 g rice, for the bhat; 500 g seasonal vegetables such as potato, cauliflower and beans, in chunks; 2 tbsp mustard oil; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp ground coriander; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 200 g mustard greens or spinach, chopped; 4 tbsp lime or tomato pickle, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control