Daal

A nice, simple daal.

I'm on a mission to make the perfect daal. While this is far from it, it's still pretty good and increadibly easy and cheap to make once you've got all the herbs and spices. This is probably the 4th draft of my recipe. Expect more.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1lb yellow split peas or similar (lentils, pulses etc – check cooking times)

4 large chopped tomatoes or ½ tin chopped tomatoes (optional)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp ground coriander

4 tsp cumin (I like a mix of ground and seeds)

2 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp butter or oil

2 tsp salt

1 tsp chilli powder

½ tsp cinnamon

Method:

1. Rinse the peas/lentils/beans and bring to the boil in a large pan of cold water. Reduce heat and simmer for 40-50 mins or until soft (soaking in advance might reduce cooking time).

2. Melt the butter/heat up the oil in a large pan. When hot gently fry the garlic for 1 minute then add the tomatoes (if using) and all the spices (if using cumin seeds fry these earlier with the garlic). Mix together for a minute or two on a high heat. 

3 Add the drained, cooked peas/lentils/beans to the spice pan (most recipes say to add the spice mix to the lentils once their water is absorbed, but I think too much of the spice mix gets left behind on the old pan this way). Mix in and serve with something yummy, like fried aubergines…

‘Left over’ Veg and Lentil curry

In my final year at university nearly all I ate was curry (wow I must have stunk...). I cooked a big batch every week or two then divided it up into tupperwear to freeze so I’d always have a healthy ‘ready meal’ on hand. It’s a great way to use up left over vegetables, add whatever you like – aubergine, turnip, sweet potato, mushroom...play around with the lentils too. I normally go for puy if I can find them for a reasonable price but any others will do. 

The following recipe is a guideline for a basic curry. The following quantities are based on what I had in my kitchen at the time, add as much spice as you want!

Serves 2-4 (when served with side of rice etc)

Ingredients:

1 small celeriac

1 potato

1 carrot

1 courgette

1 ½ small onions

4 tomatoes

200g puy lentils (rinsed but not soaked)

1 ½ litre veg stock

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp garam masala

3 tsp medium curry powder

Handful of fresh coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat up the oil in a large pan. After a minute or two add the onion and gently cook till translucent. Add the garlic and all the spices apart from the fresh coriander, salt and pepper and mix together for another minute.
2. Add the ‘soft’ vegetables (tomato and courgette in this case), stir so they’re coated in oil and spices and cook gently for another minute.
3. Now add the ‘hard’ vegetables (carrot, potato and celeriac) and lentils, stirring again to coat and cook for a further minute or so before adding the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils have softened (note: puy lentils don’t lose their shape so test if they’ve softened by eating a few). About 5 minutes before finishing add the fresh coriander, salt and pepper.
4. Serve with rice/cous cous/quinoa/bulgur wheat/[insert other awesome grain here] and mango chutney!

Note: When I say 'left overs' here I mean uncooked vegetables lurking at the back of the fridge. You could use cooked veg too, just reduce cooking time.