Comfort Food: Dhal Lemak Telur

There's nothing quite as comforting to me as a bowl of dhal lemak telur. I usually eat it with rice but I could eat it on its own too - the lentils and potatos are warm and filling and the sweet carrots counter the richness of the gravy beautifully. You have egg for a bit of protein too so it's a complete dish!

Unfortunately, there's nothing more perplexing to me than a bowl of dhal lemak telur either.





Part of the reason it is perplexing is that it's one of those damn makcik-style, agak-agak recipes. My mother taught me this recipe and let me tell you, the process of learning it was nothing short of frustrating. I took a pencil and notebook with me to the kitchen to note everything my mum did - and lo and behold, as I was writing down the step that she had just completed, she grabbed a random ingredient and chucked it into the pot... and left me scrambling to add this surprise addition to the ingredient section of the recipe.

I was thus left with a recipe which always takes a bit of investigative work to decipher. I can't really blame mum though because that's just the way her generation and the ones before cooked - by feel. And unfortunately, I have been cursed with this same attribute, which is why it has taken me so long to actually compile a semi-decent recipe. In fact, as I was cooking this dish, I had to scrawl over my neat draft because I found myself adding more spices to the mix. Hence, before you attempt this recipe, be warned that you might need to do a bit of tweaking on your end to tailor it to your tastebuds. Heck, I might end up modifying this recipe the next time I make it.

The other reason this recipe perplexes me is that I can never really figure out what ethnicity it is. Of course, this isn't a major obstacle to making it... but I do wonder about this every time I make it. On one hand, it's a dhal and the use of a fry mix indicates that this dish has roots in the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, lemongrass and crushed prawns seem to indicate a South East Asian influence. Similarly, star anise, cinnamon and cloves are the sacred Malay trinity of spices.

Regardless of the headaches this recipe and its origins gives me, the end result is worth it. It's warm and hearty - like a good hug.

Dhal Lemak Telur (Creamy lentil curry with eggs) 

Boil mix:
475g red lentils, soaked for at least half an hour
1 shallot,diced
4 cloves of garlic, bashed
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
1 full star anise, broken into segments
6 cardamom pods, lightly bashed so that the pod is split
2 sticks of lemongrass, just the bottom half and bashed so that the bulb is split
3 teaspoons of cumin
4-5 carrots cut into chunks
4 potatos cut into halves or quarters (depending on size)
3 teaspoons, crushed prawns (optional)
1 handful of curry leaves
salt to taste

Fry mix:
1 finely sliced shallot
4 cloves finely sliced garlic
2 green chillis, slit lengthwise
4 teaspoons panch phora
1 handful of curry leaves

Additional ingredients:
12 tablespoons of coconut milk (this will be slightly under a can of coconut milk)
6 eggs

Method: 

1. Dump all the boil mix ingredients into the pot and boil until the lentils are reaching tenderness.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of coconut milk and salt to the mix. Stir and simmer.
3. In the meantime, fry off everything in the ingredient mix in oil or ghee until aromatic.
4. Add the fry mix to the pot and stir through, 
5. Add about half a cup of water and 10 tablespoons of coconut milk. 
6. Crack an egg into the pot,do it gently and cover it with sauce. Repeat for remaining eggs.
7. Once the eggs are cooked to your preference, the dhal is done. 

Notes:

• A tricky part of this recipe is ensuring that the potatos and carrots are not under or overcooked. You can cook these separately and add them into the mix later, I just prefer boiling mine with the spices. What I sometimes do is remove the potatos and carrots for part of the cook and return them to the mix at the end to finish cooking. You can also remove them when they're cooked enough and just add them after the cooking process to warm through. 
• I prefer having a soft (not runny) yolk but this dish is yummy with hard boiled yolks too.