Red lentils dal

red lentils dal

Nothing for ten days and then two recipes all at once? What’s going on? Well….why not, eh? I like living on the edge, me! Seriously, the reason for my absence was simply that I have not been in residence. Like previous years I went to spend a few days in Edinburgh for the fringe festival. Brill! While I was there I met up with my youngest son Tom and , as it’s often the case, we ended up talking about food. Like mother, like son…He loves cooking too and this dal recipe is one of his favourites. So much so that apparently he “inflicts” it on his girlfriend at least once a week (I’m sure she is getting a bit fed up by now, good though it is!).! Anyway, dal is a very common Indian dish made with pulses. This simple but flavoursome version is based on red lentils. What I like about this recipe is that it’s very straightforward and can be used as a base. You can try adding other vegetables to it such as chick peas, potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes etc.. I have seen many variations on the internet. Served with the naan bread I have just blogged works really well! :-)

INGREDIENTS

250 gr. red lentils

900 ml. vegetable stock

1/2 tspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon mild chilli powder

1 inch cinnamon stick

2 tbspoons olive oil (plus a bit extra for drizzling on the top)

1 onion, chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

fresh chopped coriander

METHOD

Wash the red lentils in plenty of cold water. Put in a large pan and add the vegetable stock together with the turmeric, the chilli powder and the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil then cover the pan and simmer for approx. 40 minutes (until water has been absorbed and lentils are the consistency of a thick soup).

In the meantime heat the oil in a frying pan, add cumin seeds and when they start to sizzle add chopped onion and garlic. Shallow fry until nice and soft. Add to the lentils at the end of the cooking time. Sprinkle with chopped coriander.

As I mentioned you can add lots of other different vegetables to it. I added a chopped up, cooked sweet potato (also suggested by my son) and it worked really well.

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