Red Lentil Dal
Join me as I make this easy, flavorful dal recipe from Chef Palak Patel, who was just on my show Sprung on Food! Below you’ll find Palak’s original recipe, with my notes in parenthesis.
INGREDIENTS
2 cup red lentils, rinsed
2 tablespoons sunflower oil (I used vegetable oil)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup diced yellow onion
2 green Thai peppers (my grocery store didn’t have Thai peppers, so I used 1 jalapeño)
1 bunch curry leaves, optional (I didn’t have this, so omitted)
Pinch of hing
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups pureed tomatoes
Juice of one half a lemon (I totally forgot about the lemon that I had, so, you can technically skip, but, it’s a nice to have)
Salt to taste
Chopped cilantro leaves for garnish
STEPS
Place the rinsed lentils in a bowl with 3 cups of room temperature water. Soak for 30 minutes (in Palak’s video she said she had her lentils soaking for a couple hours, so, I just did the same).
In a large flat surface pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and cook for 30 to 40 seconds, until fragrant.
Add the onion, green chili pepper, garlic, ginger, salt, and hing; cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the onions are turning translucent.
Add the tomato puree and cook another 10 minutes (or until almost all of the moisture has evaporated from the tomato mixture).
Add the turmeric, cayenne, and salt with the lentils and 3 cups of water. Cook lentils for 30 minutes or until they are soft and have a soup-like consistency (I would check every 10 minutes to see if more water needs to be added, since it evaporates quite a bit).
Add the lemon juice and stir well. Taste and add salt as needed.
Garnish with cilantro; serve with basmati rice (or, whatever kind of rice you have, or, none at all, it’s your world!).