Gufaa? Load of Guff

I'm not sure at what point the meal turned sour. Was it possibly the £9 for five half-charred poppadoms and chutney? Yes, I double checked my poppadom hadn't been lacquered in gold-leaf and no, the chutney hadn't been hand-milked from the breasts of mermaids either. It could possibly have been the rosé wine, which conformed so delightfully to that futuristic E.U vision of bored French viticulturists mixing dreg-ends of white and red bargain-bin plonk together in industrial-sized vats and shipping the resultant vinegar off to the ignorant "rosbif". 
Or maybe it was the 45 minute wait for a collection of identical dishes swimming in a ubiquitous lukewarm almondy goop: whether ghosht pasanda, korma or tandoori, you could bet it was going to be yellow and devoid of any kick whatsoever. 
The crispy burnt onion bits at the bottom of my dish were the elements that elicited possibly the only excited groan of the evening. The indignant look of the near-comatose waiter when we tried to remove the service charge from our exorbitant bill at least provided entertainment value, as did the grand debate on the possible provenance of the aforementioned "creamy sauce". Best not to think too long about it, and head somewhere else.

Gufaa

39 Upper Street
London N1 0PN
020 7354 5465

Creamy spinach, lentil and coconut dahl (with chapati bread)

Warm and spicy on a cold autumn night...

Equally delicious without spinach!

Ingredients (for two people):



200g red lentils
four big handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, steamed and wilted. (I used two cubes of frozen spinach)
100ml coconut milk
1 onion, chopped finely, or (even better) grated
2 generous cloves of garlic
1 heaped tsp turmeric
2 heaped tsp garam masala
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger (or grate a 2 cm piece of peeled ginger)
fresh chopped coriander
1 heaped teaspoon chopped fenugreek leaves
salt and pepper
vegetable or olive oil



For the chapatis:

200 gr. plain flour
water
salt


TO MAKE THE DAHL:

Put to one side 4 tbsp of coconut milk.

In a large pan, put the lentils and cover them with 350 ml of cold water and the bulk of the coconut milk . Cover with lid.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 30 mins. Add boiling water if the lentils start to dry out.

In a frying pan, heat some oil. Add the onion and chopped garlic and sweat for a few minutes until they soften.

Add the spices one by one, stirring. THe onions should take on a wonderful ochre colour. For those that like it spicy, this would be a good time to add some chopped red chillies...

Once the lentils are cooked, stir in the spices and onion mix. Warm through gently for a few minutes, stirring.

Finally, add the coconut milk you put to one side, stir in gently and serve immediately, garnished with some fresh chopped coriander and some hot chapati bread.

FOR THE CHAPATIS:

Put the flour in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Add just enough water to knead into a smooth, elastic dough, not sticky, but not too dry either. KNead the dough until smooth. DIvide the dough into little balls the size of a small plum and roll out into quite thin circles.

Heat a frying pan until it smokes. Lay the chapatis one by one in the pan and cook about 1 1/2 minutes of one side, then flip over and cook until it begins to bubble and puff up with air.

It is best to serve chapatis piping hot, so prepare the dough in advance of the dahl, and roll out your shapes while the lentils are cooking. You can start cooking the chapatis after you've added the spices to the dahl mix so that everything can be served at the same time.

Enjoy with mango chutney, cool cucumber raita or a fresh salad of chopped tomatoes, onions and mint... And a cool, crisp Indian beer!