Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils
- 3 cups water (plus more as needed)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 cooking onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 medium tomatoes (or 8 canned plum tomatoes),
- cored and roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Cooked rice to accompany
Preparation
Step 1
1. Pick through lentils to make sure there aren’t any small stones. In a medium-sized saucepan bring water and salt to a boil, add lentils, stir and cover.
2. To a large frying pan, add the oil, heat on medium-high, then add the onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute more, then add tomatoes, stir again, add the spices, give another big stir. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Carefully pour cooked vegetable mixture into cooking lentils, stir, adding more water if the mixture looks good enough to eat but the lentils aren’t cooked yet (total cooking time for dal will be 30-40 minutes.) Continue cooking dal covered on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until it’s nice and thick. Taste for seasoning and add more salt – or cayenne – if needed. Serve with rice.
Serves 2 to 4