Day 63: Tarka dahl

Some people love butter; others like those awful margarine spreads. Some people like hard boiled eggs; some like them runny. Some people like Tarka dahl; others don’t and I fall into the latter category. Each to their own and all those other clichés but when I made Tarka dahl for my dinner these evening, I was very disappointed. Whilst some people might love it, I certainly don’t. As you can see from the picture below, the fact that I slightly overdid frying the garlic and spices didn’t help. Hey, who am I kidding? I burnt them. There. I said it.

Having been on my holidays for almost two weeks now, I honestly don’t know where I get the time to go to work. Life in our household at the minute goes like this – morning, breakfast, clean up, elevenses, clean up, lunch, clean up, afternoon tea, clean up, dinner, clean up, supper, clean up. One meal runs into the next and it’s only in between meals, that I try to make a super-effort dash to the door with the kids for a walk or they get bundled into the car to go somewhere which will surely make them nod off en route. So within that specific time frame between meals, if I don't go then, it's too late as the next meal time has approached. Another thing is that every house should have its kitchen, living and dining room open plan (which certainly isn’t what I have at the minute) so that despite all the time one can spend in the kitchen, at least the kids can happily play within vision at all times without having to maneouvre high chairs, low chairs between rooms etc. But, ideally, that’s the way it would be. It’s amazing how much time can be spent in the kitchen so it’s not surprising that the kitchen is the hub of many an Irish household. I often experience kitchen-envy from the many I’ve seen on Grand Designs and MTV Cribs to the point that I know exactly how my ideal kitchen would look like but, for now (and probably many years to come), I’ll be doing with my own modest one.

So, getting back to tonight’s dinner (for me), I started off by putting on a bag of boil-in-the-bag rice to cook. I then put red lentils, a bay leaf and sliced ginger in a saucepan of water and brought it up to the boil before simmering for 15 minutes. While they were cooking, I melted butter in a small frying pan and added sliced garlic, cumin seeds and chilli flakes which I stir-fried for a few minutes. I served up the dish as follows – boiled rice, lentils on top, the garlic butter poured over the top and seasoning.

The verdict...

Regardless of the marks which I awarded this dish (which were 2 out of 10), I didn’t even finish it even though I was hungry so that speaks volumes. I know over-frying the garlic and spices didn’t help which resulted in the burnt taste but, at the other end of the spectrum, I had the blandness of the rice. I know the lentils were supposed to feature in between but I found them bland also. Had I cooked the garlic butter properly, I’m sure it could possibly have scored a 4 or 5 but, to be honest, I just didn’t get this dish. So, you’re not exactly surprised when I say that this dish definitely hasn’t made The List. I actually had to have a full glass of pure orange juice to get rid of the burnt taste of the garlic butter and made a light supper instead as there was no way I was starting into another recipe this evening. I just about have time to make myself one dinner in the evening never mind two – not that I could eat two dinners (although Dear Husband could!). As I’ve said before, even when I make a recipe that I don’t like, I don’t fret because at least I know what I like and what I don’t like and if it’s not a hit, then I know not to make it again but at least I tried it.

So that’s tonight’s contribution and I must mention about the forthcoming posts for tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. I will be officially out of the country as I’m attending Dear Sister No.2’s hen weekend in Liverpool. I did say that when I started this Challenge, I was going to make at least one recipe a day unless I was officially out of the country but, not one to let my readers down, I will still be posting on those days. However, the recipes are extra ones which I’ve made over the last few weeks in preparation of being away. Well, you didn’t really think that I was going to cook for all the girls while away did you?! [I did contemplate ways to do that though!]. And I know I’ve been accused of taking everything but the kitchen sink on past trips, but this is one time whereby I wish I could take the kitchen sink (and the oven too obviously) but, alas, I will be doing no cooking whatsoever while away so it’s going to be an extremely peculiar weekend for me. Somehow though, I think I’ll manage rightly…