Lentil Dal

I make a variation of this Dal almost every week. It’s cheap, easy, delicious, and makes for a few extra work lunches or popped in the freezer for the following week.

Spices offer a lot of bang for your buck when regularly added to meals, elevating the flavour and nutrition profile, packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Spices are also great for increasing food diversity, which has shown to support a healthy gut microbiome.


Soaking your lentils

Soaking legumes before cooking helps break down phytic acid, which will enhance the absorption of vitamins and minerals found in legumes such as calcium, zinc and iron. Soaking also makes digesting legumes easier and reduces the occurrence of gas.

Before soaking it’s important to thoroughly wash your lentils until the water runs clear, then cover with cold water and leave for a minimum of 1 hour. You can even leave them soaking overnight.


Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp ghee *alternatively use EVOO, butter or avocado oil

  • 2 cups yellow lentils 

  • 1 onion diced

  • 2 cloves garlic finely diced

  • 1 3cm knob ginger finely diced

  • 1 tsp each - ground turmeric, curry powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt & and good crack of freshly ground pepper.

  • 4 cups bone broth *I used a tbsp of bone broth paste and filtered water. Alternatively you could use vegetable or chicken stock.

  • 1 tin tomatoes 

  • 1/2 butternut squash cut into 2cm cubes

  • 1 cup garden peas 

Method

  1. Thoroughly wash lentils until water runs clear, then cover with cold water in a large bowl, and allow to soak for a minimum of 1 hour.

  2. Heat a large crock pot on medium, and add ghee until melted and hot.

  3. Add onion, garlic, ginger and sauté for 2 minutes.

  4. Reduce the heat to low and stir through the spices until fragrant. Be careful not to burn. Add a dash of water or broth to deglazed if needed.

  5. Return the heat to medium, then stir through lentils to coat with spices, then add broth and tin tomatoes. Leave simmering for 15-20 minutes.

  6. Add butternut pumpkin, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for another 45-60minutes, checking now and then to ensure its not sticking to the bottom or drying out. Add more water or broth if needed. The time it will take to cook will depend on how long you soaked the lentils for. The longer they were soaked, the quicker the cook.

  7. Just before serving, stir through peas.

  8. Taste and adjust salt as needed.


Serving suggestions

  • With rice

  • With steamed veggies

  • With naan

  • On its own

 
 
Georgie Gorman