Easy Vegan Red Lentil Dal
This easy vegan red lentil dal is perfect for batch cooking. It takes 20 minutes to cook, this is perfect for week night dinners, leftovers and reheating. This dal is made with red split lentils which cook really quickly making them perfect for this recipe. You can soak the lentils for around 30 minutes before cooking, if you do make sure you don’t add as much water to the recipe.
What’s in the recipe?
Red split lentils- they cook quickly, they’re full of fibre and great at bulking out recipes.
Ginger and chilli- the base of a good dal needs a balance of chilli, ginger, garlic and onions. In this recipe use around a large thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped. If you don’t like a spicy dal make sure to use a mild chilli so you still get flavour but without the heat.
Lime- a good recipe will have a balance of salt, acid, heat and fat. The acid comes from the lime which slices through the creaminess of the lentils.
The topping:
For the topping, chopped chilli, spring onions fried with mustard seeds and coriander seeds to give a bold flavour. If you fry the ingredients in an oil such as coconut oil it adds a fresh flavour as well as preventing the ingredients from burning.
Season to perfection, so taste test as you go adding a little more salt or chilli as you go.
Cooking tips:
Soaking the lentils? If you’re soaking the lentils be sure to add less vegetable stock when cooking this recipe. The lentils will already have absorbed loads of water so you don’t want them going soggy.
Serve with lime slices and chilli flakes- Depending on how you like your dal, I think it helps to serve with additional lime and chilli flakes on top to add a little more flavour to each bowl.
Don’t drown the lentils-It’s easy to keep adding stock, but let the lentils absorb the water before adding any more if it’s looking dry. You don’t want to add too much stock and create a really runny dal.
Easy Vegan Red Lentil Dal
Ingredients
- 250 g red split dried lentils rinse until water runs clear
- 1 thumb sized fresh ginger peeled and finely chopped
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 green chilli 1/2 finely chopped, save the other half
- 1 lime
- 1.1 l vegan stock (water and stock cube)
- 1 heaped tsp cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
top with:
- 1 tbsp neutral oil coconut is good
- 3 finely chopped spring onions
- 1/2 green chilli saved from earlier
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
Serve with:
- 70 g rice per person
Instructions
- Start by finely chopping the ginger, shallots, garlic and chilli, add to a large pot with neutral oil, fry on a low-medium heat for around 6 minutes
- Meanwhile wash the red lentils until the water runs clear, add into the pot, add in the turmeric and cumin and stir until coated
- Boil the kettle, pour into a mixing bowl with the stock cube, dissolve then add to the pot of lentils, continue to simmer on a high heat for around 15-20 minutes until the lentils have absorbed the stock (it might need a little more water, so just keep an eye on the lentils)
- Whilst the lentils cook, cook the rice (I usually use around 70g per person) by washing, then add to a pot, cover with water until the water sits no more than a pad of your finger over the level of rice. Bring to boil for around 8 minutes, then turn the heat off, lid on, leave to steam for the next 8-10 minutes
- Squeeze a full lime into the dal, season generously with salt, then prepare the topping by chopping the spring onions and chil,i, add to a wok with neutral oil, the seeds and fry on a high heat for a few minutes before adding to the dal
- Serve up the rice and dal and enjoy
