Tags
cooking, dahl, dal, food, lentil, recipe, red lentils, soup, stew, vegan, vegetarian, yellow lentils
It’s November and it’s cold outside! We are heading over to our community garden this weekend to harvest the rest of what is left there. We had our first frost this morning so I hope that what’s still out there, of the late winter vegetables that we planted, will still be viable. In the meantime we’ve been warming up to soups and stews again and enjoying the last of the fall bounty of apples and pears. There will be a recipe to come soon on what has fast become my favorite pear cake, so stay tuned! Sorry for the lack of posting lately but Anna has been home sick with a bad head cold and is only just now starting to make a full recovery. Being home with a sick child is always challenging and doesn’t allow much time for anything else! So stay warm and well this November and enjoy a bowl of this lentil stew. Feel free to substitute in any variety of other root vegetables that you may have on hand too!
Dahl
Inspired from Eat Spin Run Repeat’s Indian Dahl
2 cups dry red or yellow lentils (sorted to remove any small stones)
2 Tbs Olive Oil or Ghee
1 large onion diced
4-6 Cloves of garlic minced
3 inch piece of Ginger peeled and minced (or grated)
2 tsp ground Turmeric
2 tsp ground Cumin
2 large carrots diced
1 bay leaf
400 gram can of diced tomatoes with juice (about 1 3/4 of a cup)
4 cups vegetable (or chicken) stock
400 g can pure Coconut Milk (not light coconut milk or coconut drink)
Salt, pepper and ground red pepper to taste
1 bunch of fresh Cilantro, torn or chopped into pieces (for serving)
In a large soup pot or dutch oven saute the onions in the olive oil/ghee over medium high heat until translucent. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric and cumin and saute for one minute more, while stirring, until everything is fragrant. Add the bay leaf and carrots and saute for a minute more while stirring. Then stir in the diced tomatoes and stock. Bring the soup to a boil. Add the sorted lentils while stirring and reduce the heat to a low simmer with a lid partially covering the top of the pot. Allow to simmer gently, stirring occasionally so the lentils won’t stick to the bottom of the pot and burn, until the lentils and carrots are tender. This should take less than half an hour as lentils cook down quickly. Add the coconut milk, salt and pepper and stir. Cook for a couple of minutes more and serve garnished with chopped fresh cilantro on top.