Red lentils in onion sauce w/ tomato biryani

Both of these recipes are from Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries.  I decided to make them because I already had all the ingredients on hand.  Cooking Indian food is difficult at first, when you're unfamiliar with the spices, where to source them, and how they're used.  Gradually, as you build up a cabinet of spices, it becomes a breeze.

Red lentils (masoor dal) are actually split, skinned brown lentils.  They have a salmon pink color before cooking and turn yellow when cooked.  (They should be distinguished from "yellow dal"--split, skinned chickpeas that are yellow to begin with.)  They cook very quickly into a puree-like stew, which can be flavored in innumerable ways.  

The lentils in this picture may look boring, but they are fantastically flavored.  The flavor comes from red onion that has been caramelized and browned (for over 30 minutes) along with smoky cardamom seeds, cloves, black pepper, cumin, chilis, and salt.  Diced tomato and turmeric are added when the onions are fully cooked, and then the contents of the skillet are spooned into the lentils.  I used 1/4 ghee, 3/4 canola oil.  I love the taste of ghee, but it's awfully unhealthy and isn't necessary in this already full flavored dish.

I also made a recipe that Iyer calls "Nimmy Paul's Tomato Rice" (or tamatar biryani).  The colors are amazing.  The rice is briefly sauteed and then boiled with a bed of sauteed tomatoes, onions, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, whole mace, ginger, garlic, chilis, and of course turmeric.  The orange shreds are from a blade of mace that disintegrated while cooking, adding even more flavor.