Dhal, a trip to Indian cuisine
For those of you who like South Asian food, especially Indian food, you will already be familiar with the dish we bring you today, Dhal. I remember it from my trip to Sri Lanka a couple of years ago. It was served all day long, for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, as main or as a side.
Indian food is based in Ayurveda, a holistic approach to create balance within the mind and body by aligning oneself with nature. In food terms, Ayurveda diet focuses on the six basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, biter, pungent and astringent. All of them have to be present in every meal.
Knowing this we can understand why Indian food is so full of delicious aromatic spices. Mixing sweet canela with spicy pepper, sour tamarind and many others. Ayurveda medicine, their believes, customs and history have made Indian food one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.
Dalh is one of Indian traditional dish. This rich delicacy is a kind of soup-stew of legumes … You can make dhals with red lentils, green beans, red beans, chickpeas and many others. But to get a good dhal it is important that the vegetables that you use have the skin stripped, so they will cook before they get into a kind of thick soup.
It is very simple and super quick to do. The traditional dhal, made only with lentils and spices, can be enriched with a little onion, tomato and a handful of fresh spinach. I love to have it on its own. But it’s also a perfect complement to many vegetarian dishes, both curries and biryanis, pakorasas or bhajis.
And you, how would you have it? Please don’t forget to tag your photos #healthyforkful on Instagram 🙂 I would love to see your beautiful dishes.
A classic Indian dish loaded with delicious aromas.
- 160 gr red lentils rinsed
- 500 ml vegetable stock
- 2 teaspoon turmeric
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 onion thinly sliced
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 handful fresh spinach
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Boil lentils in a pot with the stock. Reduce heat and add turmeric and salt, let them boil for 15 minutes, stiring from time to time. The lentils will get texture of thick puree. Remove from the heat.
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Meanwhile, in a saucepan, toast cumin seeds for a couple of minutes, be careful they don't burn or will get very bitter.
Add the olive oil and when hot, reduce heat to medium and add onion. Saute a couple of minutes and add the chopped tomato. Let them cook 5 minutes.
Add the onion mix and the handful of spinach to the pot with the lentils. Cover and let it rest 5 minutes.
Taste and see if need adjusting any flavours.
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Serve it with pita bread, naan bread or boiled rice.
If you prefer you could use it as a side dish of your favorite curry.