Dahl

I remember lining up in the canteen at TAFE about six years ago, and looking at Dahl for the first time. I asked the kitchen assistant, “Whats that?”. “Dahl,” she replied. To this day, I can still hear her voice ringing in my head in a “The Castle” fashion… Darrrrll. Anyway, I digress!

Dahl was the first lentils dish I tasted that I fell instantly in love with. I know, it doesn’t look like much or even very appetising, but you just have to taste it! Many years ago, a lovely woman named Ros gave me a recipe that I still use to this day. Its so hearty, warming and fantastic that it is a weekly dish around here in winter. Enjoy the Dahl, Darrll…!

I like its just the lentils, but its what you do with them, darrrll....

[  Serves: 6 - 8  |  Time: 1hr stovetop / 6+ hours slow cooker  |  Cost: $8  ]

Ingredients

1 tin chopped tomatoes
½ cup red lentils
½ cup brown lentils
½ cup yellow split peas
1 onion, chopped finely
1 ltr vegetable stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1 tablesoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Splash of Olive Oil

Method

1. Soak the lentils over night if cooking on the stove top.
2. Add a splash of oil to a pan. When hot, add the mustard seeds and carefully pop the mustard seeds to release their flavour.
3. Add garlic and onions, and sauté gently until caramelised. Add the remaining spices and cook until fragrant - about 1 – 2 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, stock and lentils and cook on the stove top on a moderate heat until lentils are tender and are breaking own.
5. If necessary, thicken up the sauce with tomato paste. Serve with rice, or eat alone.

Observations

• Slow Cooker Method: I often cook this in the slow cooker, as it is convenient during winter when I am busy with uni. Soak the lentils over night if desired. Caramelise the onions and spices as described above before adding to the slow cooker with the other ingredients. If you are pressed for time, don’t worry – just put it all in the slow cooker. Leave for 8 – 10 hours on slow, keeping an eye on the water level.
• Ethical Note: There is a lot of debate about water hungry crops such as lentils, however, it is still a far more ethical option than others (eg: beef!).
• Diabetes Note: My BGLs always love this dish. Eat it to good health!

 

Sweet Potato and Lentil Curry

I’ve been craving lentils for a few days now but I must admit, my recipe collection for lentils is a bit… bare. I scoured the internet this morning for inspiration, and stumbled across this little gem from food.com. I did alter it quite a bit, but I must say – it was delicious!

Ingredients – serves four

500g sweet potato
1 large onion
1 cup dry red lentils
1 litre veggie stock
½ cup flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons curry paste
1 tablespoon garlic
½ tablespoon ginger
4 bay leaves
Drizzle of oil

Methods

1. Dice the sweet potato into small bite size pieces (use the photo above as a guide). Chop the onion finely.
2. In a pan, add a little oil and allow to warm. Add the curry paste, and cook until fragrant. Add the ginger, garlic, lentils, sweet potato, onions and enough stock to cover all ingredients. Stir well before adding the bay leaves.
3. Cook with a lid on for 20 minutes. Check every 5 minutes and replenish the stock as needed.
4. Serve over rice and garnish generously with parsley.

Observations

• Awesome, delicious meal. I used a Thai Massaman Curry past for my base. The flavours were delicious, and in hindsight, I should have added a dash of coconut milk for a creamier texture. You could alter the taste dramatically by using a different curry paste. The original author recommended a Sharwoods Rogan Josh Curry paste which would have been equally as delicious.
• I served this dish with some basmarti rice which is more diabetic friendly. It would have been to die for with brown rice!
• This would work with potatoes and other such ingredients, however, I wont use potato because of their high carbohydrate content.
• Diabetics Note: I was a little nervous with this dish, and for good reason. It had carbs from the rice and sweet potato. I limited my rice to half a cup cooked, and my BGLs behaved accordingly – they were quite high for my usual post meal BGL’s. Id probably not have rice at all next time.
• Ethical Note: I opted to use vegetable stock tonight instead of chicken stock as a concious ethical decision. I don’t think it lost out on flavour, as it was quite more’ish!

 

Curried Veggies and Red Lentils Soup

We have been having some terrible cold weather lately, and I had intended on doing this yesterday but the plans got shuffled. Anyway, today was the day, and I am so glad I did this. This soup was healthy, hearty and delicious and was inspired by The Veggie Mama. It is vegan / vegetarian friendly and would work perfectly for No Meat Mondays!

Ingredients

1 large potatoe

1 slice of a large sweet potato

1 slice of pumpkin

1 brown onion

1 stalk celery

1/2 zuchinni

1.5 cups red lentils

1 teaspoon of each mustard seeds, tumeric, cumin, chilli flakes, parsley and Caraway seeds

2 teaspoons / cloves of garlic (or to taste)

2 cups veggie stock

2 cups water

a splash of oil and a tea spoon of butter.

Method

1. Chop all vegetables into small bite size pieces. In a saucepan, add a little oil / butter and the onions.  After a few minutes, add the spices and garlic, cooking until the onions are translucent and the spices are aromatic. Add the remaining vegetables, and saute until they are covered in the oil / spices.
2. Add the lentils and vegetable stock. Mix well. Cook until the vegetables are cooked and the lentils are tender. On a moderate heat, this should only take you 20 – 30 minutes. You can adjust the texture of the soup to suit yourself – add more water for a thinner soup or reduce for a thicker, heartier soup.
3. You can either serve it chunky, or use the stick blender for a smoother consistency like I have here. A warm crusty roll will work wonders, but this soup is hearty and filling!

Observations

• Diabetics please note: I added potatoes and sweet potatoes to this dish to up the carb content, but my sugars were quite low after an hour. I would definitely recommend a slice of bread or bread roll to lift the carb content to 3 exchanges (45g carbs)

• Don’t be tempted to add all the water at once as the soup will be too thin and reduction may inadvertently burn the soup.

• Adjust the herbs and spices to suit your own tastes, but the 1 teaspoon measure for each spice creates a mild tasty soup.

• My family would be tempted to add sour cream to this dish. Suit your own tastes.