Indian Chicken with sliced lemon and fried onions

I cooked this last night and served it with the dahl recipe below, plus some steamed beans. It was sensational. Basically it is from a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook I have.

Serves 4- 6 (everyone came back for seconds )

6-8 chicken pieces
3 medium-sized onions
1 inch cube of ginger,sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
8 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp turmeric
1 Tbl tomato paste
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp chilli
1 whole lemon / preserved lime
1 Tbl sugar
pepper
2 Tbl yoghurt

Peel the onions. Chop two of them coarsely and put them into the container of an electric blender. Cut the third one in half lengthwise, then slice it into thin half-rounds and set aside.
Add 6 tablespoons of water, the ginger, and the garlic to the onions in the blender and blend at high speed until you have a smooth paste.
Heat 6 tablespoons of the oil in a pot over medium-high flame. When hot, put in the sliced onions and fry them, stirring, until they are darkish brown and crisp, though not burned. Remove onions with a slotted spoon and leave them to drain on paper towels.
Remove skin from all chicken pieces. Divide legs into drum­stick and thigh, and quarter the breasts. In the same oil, brown the chicken pieces on all sides until they are golden. Remove chicken with slotted spoon to a bowl or plate.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Pour in the paste from the blender. (Keep face averted.) Stirring, fry on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until paste turns a nice golden-brown. Now put in the coriander, cumin, and turmeric and fry, stirring continuously; after another 2 minutes add yogurt, a teaspoon at a time; after 2 or 3 minutes, the tomato puree, a little at a time, continuing to stir and fry. Finally, add salt, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne pepper, and pint of water. Bring to the boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Cut the lemon into 4 or 5 slices, discarding the end pieces, and remove the seeds. Add lemon slices along with the chicken pieces, fried onions, sugar, and freshly ground pepper to the sauce, stir, and bring to the boil.
Cover, lower heat, and sim­mer gently for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is tender, turning the pieces every now and then. If chicken sticks to bottom of pot, add a little more water. You should end up with a very thick sauce.

MOONG DAHL
I used some dahl that Cath was also buying in Goodies and Grains a few weeks ago and I can't remember what they are called. I hope she will leave a comment and tell me. What a duffer I am. Anyway, moong or not, it worked well !
10oz moong dahl
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 Tbl chopped parsley
1 Tbl turmeric
¼ tsp chilli
1 tsp salt
1 ½ Tbl lemon juice
3 Tbl oil
1 pinch asafetida
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
Lemon / lime wedges

Clean and wash dahl thoroughly. Put into a heavy-bottomed pot, add 2 pints water, and bring to the boil. Remove the froth and scum that collects at the top. Now add the garlic, ginger, parsley, turmeric, and chilli. Cover, leaving the lid very slightly ajar, lower heat, and simmer gently for about 1½ hours. Stir occasionally. When dahl is cooked, add the salt and lemon juice (it should be thicker than pea soup, but thinner than porridge).
In a 4-6-inch frying-pan or small pot, heat the vegetable oil over a medium-high flame. When hot, add the asafetida and cumin seeds. As soon as the asafetida sizzles and expands and the cumin seeds turn dark (this will take only a few seconds), pour the oil and spices over the dahl and serve. (Some people put the dahl in a serving dish and then pour the oil and spices over it.)
To serve: Most meat and chicken dishes go well with this dahl. Since some people like to squeeze extra lemon or lime juice on their dahl, serve some wedges separately.