Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Simple Dal

We've made a lot of this lately. It is great the first day and even better the second. And it is cheap and super quick to make. I've frozen bags of this for Kyle to bring to work for lunch. And it is very easy to double.

1 c. dried red lentils
2 t. ground ginger
1 T. minced garlic
4 cardamom pods (I got mine in the Whole Foods bulk spices)
1 T. mustard seeds
2 whole cloves
1 t. black pepper
salt
2 T. butter

Combine lentils, giner, garlic, cardamom, mustard seeds, cloves, pepper in saucepan and add water to cover by about 1 inch. Cook at a steady simmmer until the lentils are quite soft-- about 20-30 minutes, salting when they soften.

Remove cloves and pods, stir in butter. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Serve over rice.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

man, i haven't had dal since i was in india! dal & rice, everyday. i think now that it's been almost 6 years, i can try it again and enjoy it! :-) yum. so simple & yet a complete meal! maybe i'll even get some naan for the occasion.

Darby said...

looks delish, cheryl. red lentils also from whole foods?

Linus said...

yes, but I'm sure also an an Indian food store?
--cheryl

Unknown said...

just made this tonight...i made it with the only lentils i found at the grocery store (they look greenish). i didn't have cardamom pods, so i subbed ground instead. i threw in the cloves and took them out after a few minutes - they seemed like they were gonna get really strong, so maybe next time i'll omit or only use one. i also used 1/2 water and 1/2 chicken broth (just 'cause i had some in the fridge i needed to use up). other than that, this is supersuperclose to the dal i had frequently in India. thanks, Cheryl, for an easy recipe that the whole fam loves!