A mild-to-medium lentil curry bulked with vegetables, the classic dipping gravy served with roti canai and poured over nasi kandar rice. The everyday lentil curry of the Indian-Muslim stall.
Dalca is the everyday lentil curry of Indian-Muslim stalls in Malaysia, eaten with roti canai and poured over nasi kandar rice. Its South-Indian Tamil root, sambar or dhal, is transformed in mamak kitchens with coconut milk and a fried-curry-leaf tempering into the stall's default gravy. It is mild-to-medium in heat, bulked with vegetables like potato, carrot and eggplant, and is the gravy most often ordered to flood a plate of nasi kandar rice.
A thick, mild, coconut-rich lentil curry full of soft vegetables, the lentils giving body, the curry-leaf tempering a fragrant top note. Sopped up with roti canai or poured over rice, it is comforting, savoury and mild.
The lentils (a mix of split chana dhal and red masoor dhal) are cooked until soft but not fully pureed, so the curry has texture. A tempering of mustard seeds, dried chili and fresh curry leaves fried in oil is poured over the cooked dhal, which is the technique that gives dalca its distinctive aromatic top. Vegetables are added and cooked in the lentil broth, and coconut milk is stirred in for richness. The tempering-at-the-end is what separates dalca from a plain boiled dhal.
Variations
A richer version adds more coconut milk. Some cooks include mutton bones.
On the Palate
Where Dalca sits in the Malaysian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
6 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Rinse 200g split chana dhal and 50g red masoor dhal; cook in 800ml water with 1 tsp turmeric and a pinch of salt for 25 minutes until soft but textured.
Watch outCook the lentils until soft but still holding some texture, not fully pureed — dalca wants a bit of body; boil them to total mush and the curry goes pasty.
- 212 min
Add 200g diced potato, 100g diced carrot and 100g eggplant; cook 12 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
- 36 min
Stir in 200ml coconut milk, 1 tbsp sambar powder and salt to taste; simmer 5 minutes.
- 44 min
In a small pan, heat 2 tbsp oil; splutter 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 dried chili and a sprig of curry leaves.
Watch outFry the tempering until the mustard seeds pop and the curry leaves crackle fragrant, then pour it over hot — that sizzling aromatic top is what makes it dalca; underfry and it's a plain boiled dhal.
- 52 min
Pour the tempering over the dalca.
- 62 min
Serve hot with roti canai for dipping or over rice.
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