Name: Sweet-and-Sour Dal Bhat
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 plum tomato, coarsely chopped; 1 cup toor dal (pigeon peas), rinsed, picked over; 5 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 3 Tbsp. Morton kosher salt; 3 serrano chiles, halved; 6 oz. ginger, peeled, coarsely chopped (about ½ cup); 1 cup (lightly packed) grated jaggery; 6 Tbsp. fresh lime juice; 2 tsp. red chile powder, preferably Kashmiri; 1 tsp. ground turmeric; 2 cups basmati rice; 9 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided; 6 curry leaves; 3 dried Kashmiri, guajillo, or New Mexico chiles, seeds removed; 1 Tbsp. brown mustard seeds; 1 tsp. asafetida; ½ tsp. fenugreek

SweetandSour Dal Bhat with white rice in a white bowl.

Sweet-and-Sour Dal BhatPhoto by Marcus Nilsson

This dish is triply aggressive, with sweet, sour, and spicy tastes strung together in an intense interplay. To make it your own, experiment with the balance of those three elements—you might make it more sour, or very, very spicy, depending on your palate and preferences.

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Ingredient Info

Jaggery, also called gur or palm sugar, can be found at Asian or Indian markets. Asafetida can be found at Indian markets. Both can be found online at foodsofnations.com.

Recipe notes

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