Across India this dish is made with a variety of different lentils, but yellow moong or green lentils work best for us. They should be able to cook quickly and not need soaking prior to cooking. It has a deep, sophisticated, spicey flavour, sweet, sour and very moreish indeed. This is a lentil dish rather than a dhal and is relatively dry, so can be used in a different way in a thali as it has foreground rather than background flavours. If you can get hold of dried curry leaves, they add something extra to this dish, however the one thing that isn’t optional is the lemon juice – it brings all of the flavours together beautifully

120g yellow/green lentils

1 tsp ground turmeric

500ml chicken stock or vegetable nage

250ml water

10 curry leaves (optional but preferable)

1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee

1 dried red chilli

¼ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

2cm square fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves and stalks

juice of half a lemon

• Wash the lentils well under running water in a sieve. Put in a large pan with the water, chicken stock, curry leaves and turmeric. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for around 20 minutes with the lid on, or until the lentils are tender. Remove from the heat and set aside

• Heat the oil or ghee in a wok or heavy based pan and gently fry the onions for 3 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander and chilli and cook for a further 5 minutes until the onions are translucent

• Add the tomato and cook for 3 minutes, until it has softened, then add the lentils. Stir in the ginger and coriander leaves and stalks. Season with salt, and finally add the lemon juice. Serve with chapatis or naan, or as part of a thali