Surprisingly I prefer most traditional Indian dishes without meat, which I know sounds weird, but I find it tastes better. Even though I eat it without meat, we still cook dhal and rice with chicken (usually - sometimes mutton, if my dad's been persistent enough lol,), but I'll dish out without any meat. 

1. Before cooking, ensure you have soaked the Oil Dhal (Toowar Dhal) overnight in water.
2. Marinate the chicken in red chilli paste, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, pepper, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric, and cumin powder.          
3. In a large (deep) pot, heat up the oil on medium heat before adding sliced onions, dry cinnamon sticks, cloves, and cardamom pods. 
4. Braise the onions till golden before turning the heat low and add the already marinated chicken.
5. Add 1/2 cup water and cook the chicken for 15 minutes before adding freshly pureed tomato and lemon juice.
6. Cook the chicken on low heat for another 15-20 minutes. 
7. While the chicken is cooking, you can make your rice. Just boil some basmati (or your go-to rice) until it's done. Mix in some Cumin Seeds or Grate Carrots for extra flavour while the rice cooks. Keep it aside until it's time to steam before serving.
8. Now it's time to prepare your dhal (lentils). First, rinse the soaked dhal until the water runs clear. 
9. Next, place it in another pot with 2 cups of water and boil the lentils on medium heat until they soften and become tender (approximately 10-15 minutes).
10. Once done, add the cooked dhal into a blender and blend until it's smooth.
11. Add it to your chicken and boil on medium to high heat until it thickens, for another 15 - 20 minutes. If you see it's a bit too thick and not creamy soup consistency, you can add very little water to thin it out (be careful not to add too much, or it will be too watery).
12. While the dhal is cooking, you can steam your rice until it heats up so it's ready to serve. You can also make the quick relish by roughly chopping fresh coriander, tomato, and onions and mixing them in a bowl with the vinegar. 
13. Five minutes before serving, add oil, whole cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and curry leaves to a saucepan and place on high heat until the mustard seeds start to pop. The second you hear them pop, quickly add the mixture to the chicken dhal pot and stir it all together. 
14. Before serving, garnish the chicken dhal with some freshly chopped coriander, serve with your quick relish, fluffy basmati cumin seeds or grated carrots rice, and some poppadoms, and enjoy! Oh, and remember you added some cardamom seeds, so be careful not to bite into those taste-bud killers. 

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I hope you enjoy this simple, traditional Chicken Dhal and Rice recipe.

Chinese Orange Chicken With Rice Or Noodles 

- SAUCE -

- SIDE RELISH -

- GARNISH - 

- SERVE WITH - 

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I hope you give this Chinese Orange Chicken and Rice or Noodles recipe and enjoy it,

I've also shared some more rice-based dishes on my blog.

If you'd like to check out some of those recipes,

here are the links;

Singaporean Rice 

Healthy Chicken Rice

Nandos Chicken Strips and Spicy Rice

Steak Rice

Butter Chicken Biryani

Bukhari Pilau 

Prawns Curry and Rice

Afghani Chicken Pilau 

Spanish Rice

Hyderabad Biryani  

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