I make this as an easy side to other Indian dishes. I suppose it could stand alone with rice, but if I'm just making one dish, I prefer to make the "Curried Vegetables with Dahl" (let me know if you want that one too). This one is pretty easy. It needs to cook for about a half hour, but the most time consuming part is chopping the onions. Then you just dump it all in and let it simmer. I've been known, in a pinch, to substitute dried onions. I also sometimes add a bit of coconut milk if I happen to have a little extra from another recipe. I adapted this recipe from a little book called "Curries Without Worries". It says it makes 4 servings, but maybe because we're always eating other dishes with it, we get a lot more servings out of this than that.
Delicious Everyday Dahl
1 cup lentils (I use red lentils)
6 cups water
1 dash salt, to taste
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped (or a large can of diced tomatoes)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs. fresh ginger, finely chopped (I often add more)
4 Tbs. ghee (I leave this out)
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. cumin seed
2 dry hot peppers (I just put in a couple shakes of red pepper flakes)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Bring all but the cilantro to a boil on high heat. Reduce to low, cook until tender. Red lentils will kind of dissolve. The cooking time will depend on what type of lentil you use. Garnish with cilantro.
What is ghee?
ReplyDeleteIt's essentially clarified butter - the butter is melted and the milk solids removed, which leaves just the fat, which has a longer shelf life without refrigeration. I usually just substitute butter or oil because I'm too lazy, but in this recipe I forget it entirely.
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