Tadka (Baghar or Popu)

Last Monday, Tom´s great friend Olof stopped in town for a visit. That evening we had him over for dinner. One of the dishes I made was my favorite moong dal curry. Olof seemed to be very happy with my cooking for he kept asking me lots of questions about the way I cook. Towards the end he confessed that lentils are not his favorites, since ...'they can be very bland, even when spiced up, but these are fabulous'. I wasn't sure what to say, so the next day, I started asking around: Whats up with people not liking legumes?

(feedback on legumes) ...mushy, soft, gooey, bland, flavorless, baby food, prison food, school canteen lunch,...

... all referring to the same questions: Where's the kick? Where´s the crunch? This was when I decided to show the world that regardless what kind (chickpeas, lentils, peas, split peas, even couscous...), ALL of them can be much more fun, if you cook them right.
That wasn't very convincing, let me re-phrase this: ... All of them can be much more fun, if you garnish them with TADKA.

Tadka (Popu or Baghar) is an essential crispy kick to all Indian dal curries. There are different tadka recipes out there, more or less elaborate, yet all of them can be briefly summarized as 'fried stuff'. Here is the basic one:

INDIAN TEMPERING:
(tadka)

(on the pic: dried chili, dried curry leaves, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asafoetida)

spice ladder: **

prep time: 2 minutes
yields: 1 person

• 1tbsp oil
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 15 curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida

(Optional ingredients include: sliced garlic, dried chili, cumin seeds, small red dal...)

Fry all the ingredients over the high flame for about 20 seconds, shaking the pan constantly. Pour over a lentil curry dish and serve immediately.


















I made mine today with curry leaves, asafoetida, mustard seeds and garlic)

Recipe for a fantastic dal (on the pic, under tadka) comming soon... Meantime, enjoy tadka with my Yellow Squash Zucchini.

Update (August 11th):
HURRAYY!!!! My wonderful tadka picture (above) just won the 3rd place in Does My Blog Look Good In This event :) I am sooo happy, it is my nameday and this is a great present. Thank you, judges, I knew there was still some justice left in this world...