Red Lentil Dahl

​​A well know celebrity once said, “if I was stuck on an island with only one meal to eat, it would have to be dahl!”.  It sure is up there on my list.   In our house when anyone says,” I think we’ll have dahl tonight”, everyone says yes.  Such a wonderful, flavoursome, warm comfort food.  Hardly a week goes by without us making it.
 
And this is one of those dishes which taste even better the next day.

Of course, dahl (the word for lentils) can be made is so many ways, with every type of lentils, and there are many.  We tend to use red lentils as they are the ones, we started making dahl with and we like it, easy, that simple, and so good.
 
Recipe
Makes enough for 6 servings … but if you need a second helping, we cannot be sure 😊

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ cup of red lentils – rinsed
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – minced
• 1 big carrot – bitesize pieces
• 1 red chilli – finely chopped
• A thumb’s length of fresh ginger – peeled
• 1 large tomato – chopped small
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ cup chopped coriander
• A drop of vegetable oil
• Water
• Sea salt – to taste

 
Note:
Sometimes we add cauliflower or cold cooked boiled potatoes.  In this photo we added both as we had them ready.  The cauliflower if broken small will cook in ten minutes, add at the same time as the onion mixture.  Add the potatoes a few minutes before serving to heat them through.
 
METHOD

1. Rinse the lentils first then add to 3 times as much water as lentils, in this case 4 ½ cups.
2. Bring it to the boil and simmer until the lentils are soft, appro x. 20 minutes. Cook uncovered.
3. At the 10-minute mark, add the carrots and ginger.
4. While the lentils are cooking, heat a drop of oil in a separate pan and fry the cumin seeds, the onion, the chilli pepper, and the garlic.
5. Once the onion is soft add the tomato and fry so all is melted together.
6. Add it to the cooked lentils and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Lentils will need salt, so add a good tsp, then taste it, you made need a little more.

 
 Enjoy

Jacques Brennan 
@HungrySoulVegan   - Changing the Culture
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