Dal

Do you have a pressure cooker? I have a delicious recipe for channa dal.

I weigh and boil green lentils, let them cool and mix with a huge green salad with loads of vinegar! A great lunch.

Or a daal curry: onion, garlic, ginger, chopped tomatoes, cumin, ground coriander, turmeric (or just sharwoods curry powder), and cooked red lentils.

Love legumes! Chickpeas are great too.

Loads of recipes on the web.

when I was able to eat carbs, I made dal all the time.

I put about 1/2 pound yellow split peas into a small crock pot, cover with about 2" of chicken broth, a clove of garlic, some onion, salt & some saffron.

Once the dal has become tender (a couple of hours or so) I heat oil in a small pot, add a couple of slices of onion,chili pepper, clove of garlic & some whole geera seeds. Put the geera seeds in last as when they heat up, they pop out of the pot.

Then toss the contents of the hot oil pot into dal (careful, this may splash up). Season with salt to taste.

You could of course do this on the stove top.

Anyway, I'm from Trinidad & this is the way my mom taught me to make it.

eta: yellow split peas :laugh:

Bump

Ooh I love LOVE daal, dhal, it is so good. I will have a look through my recipes and post them for you.

I make a dish called kichadi or kitchari depending on which site you're on. It's dal, Jasmine rice and spices.

It's often advertised as a cleanse but if you add lots of vegetables, other spices/dressings and protein it's definitely not a cleanse.

Thank You! I can't WAIT to try that Dal Recipe - by the Dal Expert hahahaha
I use a pressure cooker to make my other dal recipes with the Chaunk/Seasoning

:creeps:

I make a soup with lentils, butternut squash and kale. You can easily swap different kinds of lentils, use a different type of squash or even sweet potatoes instead of butter nut and another type of green instead of kale. The lemon zest is optional, but I think it gives a great lift to the soup.

Basic Recipe:

200 grams lentils - picked over, rinsed and drained
1 small squash, peeled and cut into very small cubes (or 1 large sweet potato)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots, diced
1-2 stalks of celery, chopped
200 grams chopped kale
1 large tomato, chopped (I've also been known to use canned or even cherry tomatoes that weren't fit for salad but not bin-ready)
1 mild (or spicy, if you prefer) chili, diced
2-3 cloves garlic
1" knob of ginger, grated
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp turmeric (optional, you can also use 1 tsp curry powder)
1 tbs oil or butter
4-5 cups stock (or water and bouillon)
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tsp lemon zest, or to taste (optional)

Heat oil in pan, saute onions, carrots and celery until soft, 4-5 minutes. Add garlic, chili, turmeric and ginger and cook until fragrant, 3-4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except kale and lemon zest. Simmer until the lentils cooked and squash/potatoes are tender (20-30 minutes) Stir in kale and heat until it is wilted and soft but not overdone. Stir in lemon zest and serve.