Feed Me ! – Red lentil dal

My sister and my dear friend S. were coming over the other night for dinner.  It was nearly 6 pm, I was tired and hungry, and I wanted to have something ready by the time the girls arrived.  So I pulled out my four pound bag of red lentils and set to work.

I know what your thinking: “Honey, please. Dried legumes take forever to cook. Don’t tell me you thought to soak dried beans overnight the night before.” Would you kindly quit rolling your eyes and pay attention for a moment, please? Red lentils are so very tasty, and you can have them on your dinner table in under 30 minutes with no advance planning.

Red lentils cook very quickly because they are both split and hulled. Think of your basic brown lentil, split in half with its skin removed. Without their skins, these bad boys cook to tenderness in 10-15 minutes.

I’m no expert in Indian cuisine, but I do love me some dal. It’s soft and flavorful and so very satisfying served over basmati rice. Since I was looking for a quick meal, I used a spice blend called Chana Dal masala from MDH (caution — noisy link), which I picked up on my most recent visit to Kalustyan’s.  (It’s available at many Indian markets.) Though I substituted red lentils for chana dal (a small split chick pea), I otherwise followed the recipe on the back of the box of masala. The tomatoes from the recipe really play well together with the coriander and cumin from the spice blend, and the chili pepper makes things just spicy enough to be interesting.

I served my lentils with brown basmati rice that I baked in the oven – a fantastic trick (even if it does take an hour).  Delicious!

Red Lentil Dal

(adapted from MDH)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 cup tomato, diced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Chana Dal masala spice mix

Directions:

• Combine lentils and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Cook 10-15 minutes, until tender
• Meanwhile, heat large pan over medium high heat, add oil and heat until it shimmers.  Reduce heat to medium and add onions to pan, stirring infrequently, until onions are golden brown.
• Add tomatoes and Chana Dal masala to pan and stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.
• Add half of boiled dal to pan and mix with spice paste.
• Return dal to boiled dal and stir to combine.
• Adjust seasoning to taste and simmer for five minutes more, then serve over rice.

Clacked by Molly B.
on Feb 17, 2009 @ 14:30 EST5EDT