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holy fuck tarka dal

28/10/2012

12 Comments

 
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A while back, street food trader par excellence The Ribman, normally to be found (depending on the day) at either King's Cross, Brick Lane or Hackney, made a very welcome appearance south of the river at Brockley Market, taking his place alongside such lauded vendors as Mike+Ollie, Mother Flipper, Red Herring, Luardos, Spit & Roast, Fleisch Mob, and Egg Boss.

Not having ever tried the Ribmeister's babyback ribs, rib meat rolls or wraps before, it was incumbent upon me to get down there stat. And thank the lawd I did - I had a doughy bun packed to overflowing with ridiculously tender and tasty pork, drizzled with BBQ sauce. Dribble-tastic.

Here's a video about Mark Gevaux (the man behind the stall):

Street Food Stories - The Rib Man from Karen Lobban on Vimeo.

While I was there, I also took the opportunity to get myself a bottle of Mark's famous Holy Fuck Hot Sauce, which is made with scotch bonnet peppers and naga jolokia chilis (second only, apparently, to the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion chili on the Scoville Scale). Frighteningly, this isn't even his hottest sauce - the big man also sells one called Christ on a Bike, with three times more naga chilis in it. But that's not his hottest sauce either - that signal honour belongs to his Holy Mother of God which comes with the following stark warning: 'do not buy this if you have a weak heart or are worried about your eyesight'!

Now, while I'm not exactly a chili-wimp, I'm far from being a chili-fiend either. But, especially considering I don't use chilis in cooking all that often (since my 'repertoire' is mainly British-ish/Spanish-ish/Italian-ish), I've surprised myself by how often I've been reaching for this bottle over the last several weeks -  to add zing to a sausage butty, swirled into a bowl of soup, even dabbed onto a slice of pizza. So much so that it now resides on the kitchen top, next to the olive oil, salt etc., rather than in the dark recesses of a cupboard. Even then, this fiery concoction still felt it needed to make its presence felt - the other week it erupted, popping off its lid and splattering all over the splashback.

Anyhow, when I decided to make some dal for lunch today, rather than go out and buy some chilis, I asked myself 'why not use the Holy Fuck'? The answer, as it turned out, was 'no reason at all, son, no reason at all'.

holy fuck tarka dal

serves two to three

for the dal:
250 g moong (AKA mung) dal
750ml water

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 cm piece root ginger, peeled
2 tsps turmeric

a little more water (as required)
salt
holy fuck sauce (or similar)


for the tarka:
1tbsp rapeseed oil
1 medium onion, chopped

1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds

to serve:
2 tsps dried fenugreek leaves
a drizzle of rapeseed oil

Wash the dal, drain and put in a pan with the water. Bring to the boil and skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

Now add the garlic, ginger and turmeric and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the dal has become a soft mush.

Remove the piece of ginger and add more water if you want the dal a bit thinner. Season with salt, then add your holy fuck sauce, a teaspoon or less at a time, until the dal is as hot as you'd like it to be.


Keep the dal warm while you make the tarka: heat a frying pan to high, add the oil, then the onion. Fry the onion until almost burnt, then add the spices, stir and fry for a minute or two.

Swirl the tarka mixture into the dal, add the fenugreek leaves and stir. Serve in bowls with a little more oil drizzled over the dal.
12 Comments
chas
28/10/2012 11:07:33

Well done for avoiding any 'Tarka the(h)otter' puns.

*tips hat*

Reply
The Skint Foodie
30/10/2012 13:16:59

Ha! I'm such a doofus that it didn't even occur to me. If it had I'm not sure if I'd have had the good sense to resist.

Reply
Chloe link
29/10/2012 04:09:27

Yum! I'm out of Holy Fuck sauce at the moment, and it's immediately become apparent how quickly I've come to rely on it's food perking properties.

Reply
The Skint Foodie
30/10/2012 13:18:02

I know! From 'I've never heard of it' to 'kitchen staple in a matter of days.

Reply
Grainne
30/10/2012 08:55:16

looks great - I pretty much make something like this once a week - and the source of the chillis varies on what I've got to hand. Can I pass on one tip I've developed? Spoon of ketchup. It seems to add depth and that slight sugar/vinegar edge. I discovered it when I'd overdone the chillis once and was looking for something to cut them - worked a treat but it added great depth of flavour.

Reply
The Skint Foodie
30/10/2012 13:19:14

Noted. But here the Holy Fuck has a sweet/sour element to it anyway.

Reply
Markef
31/10/2012 02:13:06

My reference point for this dish, which we eat at least once a week, is always Madhur Jaffrey. In her Eastern Veg. cookbook she suggests adding lemon juice and a little jaggery/brown sugar towards the end of cooking. What I've noticed over the years is that when I skip this stage, there's always quite a bit left over, so it obviously makes a noticeable difference.

We eat Lebanese lentil soup quite a bit too and that similarly seems to get everyone reaching for the lemon slices.

But I'll definitely have to get hold of some of that sauce- if only to see how much is required is needed to get everyone to say the words on the bottle.

Reply
Robin Betts
1/11/2012 10:15:02

Have to agree with you there, (making allowances for the improv. nature of this instance). Classically, dal has something fragrant ( ginger/garlic/coriander leaf etc.) and something sour (lemon, lime, tamarind etc) in the stew, and something oily/buttery + all the volatile flavours which would disappear in the boil, in the tarka at the end.

It's one of those fat-acid combinations which crops up in cooking all over the place.

If the Holy F**k is vinegar-based, that may be doing the trick?

Reply
The Skint Foodie
1/11/2012 10:37:32

I'm loving the jaggery suggestion (if only because I have a big old lump of it in the cupboard)!

Reply
Sharmila
23/11/2012 09:53:06

Another key example of this - khatti dal, which utilises tamarind to give it that wonderful sour edge, as well as curry leaves in the tarka. It's nudging out my normal dal as my weekly go-to.

Robin Betts
24/11/2012 09:24:08

@Sharmila: If this isn't driving the Skinster's blog off-topic ... I had to share my favourite Masoor Dal:

http://www.sailusfood.com/2009/04/18/masoor-dal/

Reply
The Skint Foodie
2/12/2012 11:36:11

Sharmila: I'm presuming your the Sharmila of rice and pickle blog fame, right? There's a recipe on there for the khatti dal, which would be too much of a coincidence if not. Thanks!

Robin: share away my friend! Looks the business.

Reply

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