The five jewels

Name: The five jewels
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 5 ml/1 tsp cumin seeds; 5 ml/1 tsp fennel seeds; 45 ml/3 tbsp sunflower or light olive oil; 45 ml/3 tbsp sunflower or light olive oil; 25 g/1 oz/⅙ cup yellow split gram (channa dhal); 25 g/1 oz/⅙ cup yellow split lentils (mung or moong dhal); 25 g/1 oz/⅙ cup pigeon peas (toor or tuvar dhal); 25 g/1 oz/⅙ cup red split lentils (masoor dhal); 25 g/1 oz/⅙ cup whole brown lentils (sabut masoor dhal); Plain Boiled Rice, to serve; 30 ml/2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander (cilantro); 5 ml/1 tsp salt, or to taste; 45 ml/3 tbsp whole-milk natural (plain) yogurt; 2 tomatoes, chopped; 2.5 ml/½ tsp garam masala; 2-3 dried red chillies; 15 ml/1 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter; 15 ml/1 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter; 10 ml/2 tsp ground cumin; 2.5-5 ml/½-1 tsp chilli powder; 2.5 ml/½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 small onion, finely chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook

By Mridula Baljekar

Published 2017

About

The word punj means ‘five’ and ab is ‘river’, so Punjab - where this delicious vegetarian dish originates - literally translates as ‘five rivers’. To mirror this, a combination of five different varieties of lentil are used in this classic recipe, Dhal Punj Rattani.

Ingredients

25 g/1 oz/⅙ cup whole brown lentils (sabut masoor dhal)
25

Asia
India
Main course
Gluten-free
Vegetarian
Punjab

Method

Put all the lentils in a sieve and rinse under cold running water. Transfer to a bowl, pour over plenty of cold water and leave to soak for 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a heavy pan over a medium heat and add the cumin and fennel seeds. Let them crackle for a few seconds, then add the onion. Fry, stirring frequently, until the onion begins to brown. Stir in