Obviously vegetarian, and also vegan unless you use ghee instead of oil (I did use ghee in this case – nothing else can imitate the caramelly flavour of homemade ghee).

But first a word about the food photography course. I am running out of steam and will not be presenting a final project. What I had in mind is not quite doable, at least not with my current low energy levels – whatever energy I have goes towards taking care of Max and his exercise needs (and of course making sure that I myself eat relatively healthily and generally trying to make sure I don’t get sick).

Also, as described in an earlier post, food photography is not really my kind of thing. I just need to be able to post half-way decent photos of the dishes I cook, and I have learned a lot of useful tricks in the course, and I am still curious to see what the others come up with.

One thing that perhaps, perhaps not, suits everybody except me is that we are all asked what we think of everybody else’s photos. I am actually there to hear what the teacher has to say and not what the other students have to say, and I would imagine they also don’t care what I think. What do we know? If we did, we would not be doing a course.

Anyway, one final thought – I am astonished at the number of sweet stuff I see in the class cook – cookies, muffins, desserts, …. I hope it is just for the course, considering how bad sugar is for you and the negative effects that eating sugar so regularly has on physical, hormonal and mental health.

Equally astonishing has been all the talk of sourdough as if it is a novelty recently revealed. I have been using sourdough all my life, and my parents and their parents before me: https://www.hellemoller.eu/2012/09/12/rye-bread/ (but not for white bread which is not particularly healthy).

Enough about the course.

Today I am cooking a dish that should normally have chana dal in it, but I am using red split lentils since that is what I have available. I do not expect the result to be any different, except the colour.

I was dumb enough to make the dal paste too thin, so the the “balls” ended up more like flattened, very thick pancakes, and some of them fell apart, but I still really like this recipe and will definitely have another go at it in the near future – with chana dal, not that I think that that was the problem.

The lentil balls

• 400 gram red split lentils
• Chili, to taste, in whichever way, shape or form you have available (I am using dried chili flakes here)
• 20 curry leaves (I used frozen here, so they look a bit soggy – the flavour remains the same, though)
• 2 tsp fennel seeds (Saunf)

The curry

• oconut oil or olive oil or ghee
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 12 cloves (Laung)
• 12 cardamom pods, slightly crushed
• 12 black pepper corns
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 chilies, deseeded
• A small handfull dried curry leaves
• 2 large red onions, finely chopped
• 2 large knobs ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 15 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 tblsp tomato puree (the concentrated variety, from a tube)
• 3 tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 heaped tsp teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 tsp  red chili powder
• 1 tblsp coriander powder
• Salt, to taste
• Fresh mint or coriander, for ganish

Rinse the dal and soak it for a couple of hours.

In the meantime, heat oil or ghee and add black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, green chili, curry leaves, ginger, garlic and onions, and sautée.

When the onions turn golden, add the tomato puree, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, and salt.

Add the tinned tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for a couple of minutes. Add water if needed and simmer on a very low heat.

Back to the dal: Grind the lentils with fennel seeds, curry leaves and chili, and water as needed, for a thick batter which can be spooned into balls.

Fry them in oil or ghee until browned and crisp.

Drop them into the curry and simmer for five to ten minutes before serving.