This month, member of the team Naresh shares her recipe for a simple lentil daal. Serve with boiled rice, a green salad, and chapatis.
Ingredients:
1 cupful of red split lentils
1 small onion
1 fresh tomato
4 green chillies (add more if you like it hot)
A small block of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of salt (you can always add more to your own acquired taste).
1 teaspoon of turmeric
Half a teaspoon of garam masala
1 large tablespoons of butter
A few sprinkles of cumin seed
Optional: fresh coriander or dried fenugreek leaves to garnish
Method
- First, boil the kettle as you will need boiled water for the lentils.
- Add lentils to a medium-sized saucepan.
- Wash them under cold water tap a few times and rinse
- Now add the boiled water into the pan of lentils and put it on the hob. Let it simmer slowly on a low heat.
- Meanwhile, dice the onion and tomato, and add straight to the lentils.
- You will then need to grind the green chillies, ginger and the garlic altogether in a blender. Add them to the lentils.
- Add your salt, turmeric and garam masala to the lentils, and a tablespoon of butter
- Give the lentils a good stir.
- You can turn the gas up to a medium heat, but do not cover with saucepan lid as they tend to boil over.
- Cooking the lentils for about 30 minutes.
- Keep checking and stirring. You will notice the texture getting thicker. If you find it is getting too thick, add a little water.
- Garnish the lentils with a little fresh coriander chopped, or a sprinkle of fenugreek leaves.