Hey everybody. :)
 Ghosty writing and I have the last of the Indian dishes for now.
As some of you remember, this cooking cub wasn't really happy about how the last Naan recipe turned out.
I searched around a bit and finally found one that I liked more.
Tweaked it a little and in the end I was quite happy with it.
Of course it is not a Tandoori Naan, because obviously I don't have a Tandoori… but it was nice and soft and fluffy.

I settled for a Red Lentil Dal to go with it, because you don't need to soak the red lentils.
The recipe for the Dal is similar to my brown lentil Dal I posted some weeks ago… and therefor a bit different than my old red lentil Dal variant with cauliflower and green beans.

Alright, enough text… let's cook! :3

Red Lentil Dal
(serves ~4)

200-220g red lentils
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
1 finger thick piece of ginger
1 can chopped tomatoes
150-200ml cream
~300-400 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt, pepper, spices to your taste. (for e.g. turmeric (~1tsp), cumin (~1-2tsp), ground coriander seeds (~2tsp), Garam Masal (1-2tsp), a good curry powder (1-2tsp; I used Ingo Holland "Maharadscha Curry" and "Curry Anarpurna"). Adjust amounts to your taste)
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 star anise
3-4 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
Optional: fresh coriander
Basmati rice
Clarified butter/Ghee or butter & some neutral vegetable oil

Rinse the red lentils until water runs clear.
Peel onion, garlic and ginger. Dice the onion and grind the ginger and garlic with a bit of course salt into a paste. Best way to do this would be a stone mortar.
Wash the coriander and tap it dry. Pick the leaves and chop them. Lightly crush the cardamom pods.

In a large Pot heat up of some clarified butter or Ghee, put the diced onions, star anise, cardamom pods, bay leaves and cinnamon stick into the pot and gently sweat them until onions turn translucent.
Add the garlic & ginger paste, continue to fry carefully so it doesn't burn.
Now add spices, mix them in in and after a minute add the tomato paste.
Continue to fry for another bit, then deglaze with a bit of stock or water.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock and let it simmer.
During that time, cook the lentils for about 10 minutes in lightly salted water, then drain them and put them into the tomato mixture.
Let it simmer on low heat for another hour or longer. Longer is always better.
If you want your Dal to be even thicker, take a little of your stew and blend it with a hand held blender, then put it back to thicken.
Pour in about 150-200ml of cream or cremefine, make sure the sauce doesn't cook violently afterwards, or the cream will curdle.
Remove the cinnamon stick, star anise, bay leaves and cardamom pods before serving and add some fresh coriander if you like it.

Mix together chopped coriander leaves, yoghurt, salt, pepper, ground coriander seed and cumin.
Add fresh coriander after your taste or leave it out.
If you like you can add a few drops of lime juice to the yoghurt.


Naan:
(for 6 breads)
(based on that recipe and tweaked a little: ecurry.com/blog/breads-buns-rolls/naan/ )

~270g flour
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
10g fresh yeast (about 1/4 cube). The original recipe used dried yeast, but I never liked that and used fresh yeast instead.
~ 1 tiny pinch of baking powder
120g (greek) yoghurt
60ml lukewarm water
3 tbsp soft Ghee/clarified butter or butter for the dough
fresh coriander, chopped
Black cumin seeds, sesame seeds, chopped garlic
More Ghee for brushing the bread afterwards

Dissolve fresh yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water and let it stand for a couple of minutes until it starts to foam a little.
Mix the dry ingredients flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl, make a little indentation in the middle and pour in the yeast mixture, yoghurt and Ghee.
Use your hands or a mixer with dough hook to knead everything together.
Take out after a few minutes and continue to knead the dough on a floured surface until it turned into a soft, non-sticking dough.
If the dough is too soft or sticky, add more flour. If it's too dry, add some water or yoghurt.
For me the dough was much too soft and sticky in the beginning, even if I already added a bit more flour than the original recipe called for and used greek yoghurt (which is dryer than normal yoghurt).
Put the dough back into a lightly greased bowl, cover it with a damp kitchen towel and let it rise for about 2-3 hours in a warm place.
Take out the dough, knead it again on a floured surface and divide it into 6 triangles.
Cover them with a damp kitchen towel and let them rise again for another 45-60 minutes.
Heat up a large pan to a relatively high heat. Use can some Ghee or oil.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough thinly on a floured surface into an elongated shape.
Sprinkle with fresh chopped coriander leaves, black cumin seeds and/or sesame or garlic and gently press down with the rolling pin so they don't fall off.
Put it into the pan, cover and let it bake shortly until bubbles start to form at the surface and the bottom starts to brown.
Take off the lid and flip over the bread. The bread short irregularly and the some charred spots (mostly where the bubbles are).
After baking, generously brush the Naan with Ghee. Work your way through the dough until all Naan breads are baked.
To keep them warm you can wrap them in aluminum foil for a couple of minutes.

Serve the finished Dal in small bowls, together with yoghurt and warm Naan bread, for everybody at the table to share.
Please enjoy your meal. :)