Dahl

Dahl

The only red dahl recipes I could find included ingredients I didn't have so I made this one up. A couple of tomatoes would have been a good addition.

Dahl ingredients

• 1 teaspoon whole cumin
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• red lentils, rinsed – somewhere between 100 and 150g. No need to be precise here, we’re not making a cake
• ½ thumb’s worth of ginger (mine not Jamie’s), finely chopped
• 3 small garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 large onion, half chopped finely and half sliced thinly

How to make dahl

1. Dry roast the cumin seeds for a few minutes till fragrant, then remove from the pan and crush is a pestle and mortar.
2. Add a little flavourless oil such as groundnut or vegetable and warm before adding the mustard seeds. Fry for about a minute or until they start to pop.
3. Add the chopped onion and fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the spices (including the roast cumin seeds), garlic and ginger and fry for about a minute.
5. Add the lentils and stir to coat them, then add enough water to cover.
6. Bring to the boil then simmer until the lentils are cooked and the dahl is the consistency you like it, stirring occasionally. If it becomes too dry add more water.
7. While the lentils are cooking fry the sliced onion in a little oil till crispy.
8. Top the dahl with the crispy onion slices to serve. 

I like a little dahl as an accompaniment to another curry, but it makes a great lunch too and freezes well so its worth making in a large batch.  For lunch, you only need a toasted pitta bread and maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime juice to make a tasty, filling, healthy and incredibly cheap lunch. Lunch for free at its best.