I have just made a batch of red lentil dhal, guaranteed to blow your brains out. And yet it is quite easy, just a few ingredients and very healthy.
This recipe is lifted straight from the Waitrose weekend newsy paper.
As usual with a new recipe, I follow it to the letter and then tweak for my own taste later on. It is described as being garlicky and warmed with chilli, astringent ginger and tart Bengali spices. All this adds up to be a wonderfully comforting meal. Here’s the recipe, enough to serve four people….
Ingredients
- 200g red lentils
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 30g ginger, finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1½ tsp Bart Roasted Bengal Masala
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander
Method
Dead easy. Takes about 45 mins, plus some clearing up time.
- Cook the lentils, as per instructions on the packet. Aim for a sloppy soup consistency and I find I always need to add water when I use lentils. It’s surprising how much they absorb when being cooked as well as the evaporation when simmering away. Best keep and eye on it!
- While the lentils are cooking, gently fry the onion for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down a little and add the garlic and ginger.
- Close the kitchen door and open the window. This optional step aids the harmonious atmosphere at home and circumvents the need for oxygen masks elsewhere in the Quirky Museum.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and the masala spices and cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring most of the time.
- Warm the lentils again and add everything from the frying pan (the onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and hopefully a little spare oil).
- Mix it all up, add the coriander and leave for at least 10 minutes for the flavours to infuse.
- You can eat it with rice or something like Naan bread. If it’s too spicy for you, mix in a little yoghurt.
I liked it a lot. I love the spiciness and it tastes even nicer when you think of how healthy it is. Garlic has a number of amazing health properties, although for the sake of one’s family it needs to be used in moderation. By upping my garlic intake, I’m hoping this will help lower my blood pressure and maybe my cholesterol even more.
The main ingredient is of course lentils; the humble split pea. When I first read about the health properties of lentils I was amazed and can’t believe we don’t eat more and more lentils here in fatty UK. Besides being quite cheap and having a long shelf life, I could drone on about why lentils are so good, instead take a look at this post which explains everything very well – 7 Health benefits of lentils.
As for blowing my brains out, yes it was pretty spicy. Next time, I might ease back on the Bengal masala a little, especially with the principle ingredient being chilli.
Many thanks to those nice folk in Waitrose for the recipe!
