Dal soup… for the soul?

There is no problem in life that can’t be fixed with a bit of dal  – or lentils to give this glorious dish its English name. At least that’s what the family believes – we have dal when we are happy, when we are sad, when we are tired, when we need protein… okay you get the point, we have dal almost everyday.

My late dad moved over to the dark side of dal obsession though – he insisted on having it with a poached egg when he was ill. I think I will have to be very very ill to try that!

Now there are different types of dal: red, yellow, green – or masoor, tur, mung to name a few. We cook and love them all.

The one that is easiest to cook is the red one, freely available in all supermarkets. This can be cooked in a normal cooking pan. I tend to cook other dals in a pressure cooker as they take longer to cook.

Here’s the recipe for a very basic red dal that you can try at home. Let me know how it goes.. and it will be great if you post some pictures!

Red dal (lentils)

Serves 4
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 15 minutes
Total time 20 minutes
The dal that is easiest to cook is the red one, freely available in all supermarkets. This can be cooked in a normal cooking pan. I tend to cook other dals in a pressure cooker as they take longer to cook. Here’s the recipe for a very basic red dal that you can try at home. Let me know how it goes.. and it will be great if you post some pictures!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Red lentils (washed)
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 dried red chilli or green chilli
  • 1 tomato (cut into small pieces)
  • 1 tsp oil (we use sunflower)
  • salt to taste
  • 2 cups water
  • coriander (to garnish)

Note

When I want to make this dal thicker, I normally add onions. I fry them at the same time as the cumin seeds.

Directions

Step 1
Heat up the oil in a pan and put in the cumin seeds and the chilli
Step 2
When the cumin starts to sizzle, put in the washed dal. Mix it around a bit and put in the turmeric, chilli powder and salt
Step 3
Put in the water, stir a bit and then put in the tomatoes
Step 4
Boil the dal until the lentils are completely cooked and the consistency is not watery. (According to the husband, the lentils and the water should be homogenised!)
Step 5
Garnish with coriander and serve with rice.