Tadka Dal - Everyday Indian Lentil Soup

India and dal are synonymous to each other. One can't be in India if they haven't had some version of dal, whichever part of the country they may be in. It's not like we talk lengths about it or how it should be made. For most cooks can blindly make dal, a little bit of this and that lentil, a few spices from the masala dabba (a spice box used by Indians to keep day to day spices), a trusty pressure cooker and a pot full of dal is always simmering away.

As much as dal is a necessity, so are the condiments served with it. Achar (pickle, usually lemon or mango), kachumbar (an onion salad) and if it wasn't enough some papadam (wafer-thin lentil crisps) to crunch on are always stationed close to a bowl of dal. While roti is fine, fragrant white grain rice is the lustrous companion one craves. Slurping through the dal coated rice is truly what composes comfort food for most Indians. In my family, it is a twice a week affair, but many vegetarians will tell you that they have some form of dal everyday along side a vegetable preparation. 

Mix Dal Tadka - Indian Lentils Soup

I was having a hard time naming this recipe of dal which is a generic name for Indian lentils in Hindi. What you think dal actually is ? A soup? A stoup? A stew ? Its certainly not a curry that is what I'm certain of. I actually kind of get irritated when every Indian dish is named as  curry. So I decided to stick with soup!