There as many versions of dal as there are Indian cooks. This is just one of mine, made with red split lentils and with no vegetable other than onions. The flavor is very South Indian, but the use of butter instead of oil (I actually use the spiced clarified butter niter kibbeh) and the inclusion of vadouvan at the end (to refresh the soup's flavor) take this out of strictly traditional territory. More

[Photograph: Max Falkowitz] Curries from Kerala tend to be pungent, sour, and full of seafood. They're rich, not with cream or ghee, but with coconut milk. There isn't a ton of easily found English-language information on the dish, but after... More