A good Indian lentil dhal is not to be dismissed. This is a really creamy dhal, as it’s made with coconut milk. I love having a batch of this dhal in the freezer, ready to whip up whenever I need a bowl of Indian comfort food on a cold day.
I made this recipe in the Indian episode of my show, you can watch it here.
This is a recipe from my cookbook.
2 onions
1 red chilli
5 tbsp sunflower oil
1 + ½ tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric (optional)
2 tsp garam masala
250g red lentils (also called masoor dal or Egyptian lentils)
1 tsp salt
400ml coconut milk
2 tomatoes
coriander to serve
15mins prep – Cooking 20 minutes – Serves 4 – Easy
Finely chop one of the onions, halve the other onion and cut into thin slices. Cut the stem off the chilli and finely chop.
Heat one tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onion (keep the sliced onion for later), the chilli, 1 tablespoon of the cumin seeds and the ginger. Fry for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the turmeric and garam masala and fry for another minute.
Add the lentils, salt, coconut milk and 300ml water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the dhal, cook for another 5 minutes or until the lentils are soft.
Meanwhile, put the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil into a frying pan and put over a medium heat. Add the remaining half tablespoon of cumin seeds and the onions and fry for 10 minutes until the onions start crispening.
Serve the dhal topped with crispy onions and with naan bread or rice.
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