I had masses of spinach and cilantro in the fridge that was ready to make a turn for the worse. I searched for a good recipe that would use up masses of both at the same time. I ended up making a Spinach and Cilantro Dal (Indian lentil curry) – modified from the original recipes I found online because I don’t have some of the ingredients.
I used 3 cups of water to boil 2/3 cup of red lentils with 1/2 tsp of curry powder (should be tumeric – which I didn’t have at home) and a knob of grated ginger. I let this simmer for 20-25 minutes. After that, I added 1 big handful of coarsely chopped cilantro and around 2 cups of coarsely chopped spinach and cooked this for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, I minced 5 cloves of garlic (the recipe I found called for 8!), added 1 tsp of red pepper flakes (I didn’t have 1 dried red chili pepper), 1 – 2 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tsp of black peppercorns (the recipe called for mustard seeds – this was the best I could do). I fried these in 2 tbsp of olive oil until everything is popping and happy and the garlic is nicely browned. This part actually stung my eyes a bit because of the strong spices in there, but it also smelled very rich and Indian cuisine-y. After this, I added 1 diced onion and sauteed till transluscent and tender, followed by 1 tomato in wedges heated till the skin is peeling off.
Then I mixed the fried spices with the lentil soup base, add some salt to taste, added some nutmeg … and thus went my first dal! Served with rice (basmati, no less). Joyce and Suz, if you’re reading, I need some feedback.
3 Comments
March 7, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I’m getting hungry for the weekend already! Me expecting much gourmet fun!
Super kiss! M
March 9, 2007 at 11:30 pm
this is perfect!! i just bought a bag of organic lentils and was planning to ask vijay how to make his daal. i don’t think i’ll have time til easter, but you’ve definately fueled my dream to make daal one day!!
March 13, 2007 at 12:19 pm
just a tip – i think fresh chillis and using the recommended spices (turmeric and mustard) would have improved it! i think one difficult thing about making indian food is that you have to have all the variety of spices lying around. but on the flipside, if you like indian food, it’s worth it.