Red Lentil Dal

Taken directly from Stay at Stove Dad.  I’ve really come to enjoy this guy’s blog over the last two months.  You should go check his blog out as I deserve absolutely no credit for this recipe and am a plagiarist in posting it.

Calorie Estimate: 1600

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 bay leaves
• One 2 inch cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoons (or more) of minced fresh ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 dash of cayenne pepper
• 2 cups small red lentils, about a pound, rinsed
• 1 lemon, halved and juiced (seeds removed)
• 3 or 4 cups of chicken stock
• 3 or 4 cups of hot water
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a heavy sauce pan.
2. Add the onion, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick.
3. Saute until the onions are translucent.
4. Add the garlic and the ginger and the cayenne.
5. Continue cooking another few minutes.
6. Add the lentils and stir to coat them with oil.
7. Add the chicken stock and the water.
8. Add the lemon juice and the squeezed halves of the fruit.
9. Add the salt.
10. Bring to a boil.
11. Reduce to a simmer
12. Cook for about a half hour, until the onions mostly break up and the lentils more or less dissolve. If it  looks like it needs more water, add some.

Getting the cooking bug back: ideas to try

Beans and ham hock

Beef winter soup

Red lentil dal (new favorite)

Lentil soup for a small planet

Meyer Lemon risotto

Meyer Lemon pasta

Sardines with potatoes (success!)

Fillet and soba noodles

Minestrone

Wild boar and lentil soup

Braised leeks

Lentil Soup

Since it seems to be popular with my friends to attempt this recipe, if somewhat unsuccessfully, I’ve decided to post it today.  Granted, I should be going to work right now, seeing as I’m making progress on my “elliptical chicken problem” (after having solved the spherical cow last week), but anyway, it’s a holiday. Non-sequiturly, this is an easy recipe to make vegan, if that’s your affliction.

I usually serve this over some sort of rice, steamed while the soup is cooking.  I don’t suggest mixing the rice in because, even if it’s long-cooking rice and it works for the first night, the rice will be mush when reheated.  To reheat, I usually drop some rice in a pot with the soup, add 1/2 cup of water and reheat on the stove top (7 minutes on high heat, constantly stirring, 30 minutes with a lid on medium-low heat, paying no attention).

This recipe makes 4 meals of food for me if I add a cup of cooked rice at each meal.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Almost-Neglected Cooking Time: 40-50 more minutes

Calorie Estimate for the batch: 1800

Tools:

• knife
• cutting board
• big pot with tight-fitting lid
• wooden spoon or ladel

Ingredients: (as always, all spice amounts are “-ish”)

• 1 large (yellow) onion, coarsely diced
• few cloves garlic
• a splash of olive oil
• carrot and celery, diced in equal amounts to the onion (usually 3 or 4 each of carrots and celery stalks)
• 1.5 pounds red lentils (the red cook up much quicker and are pleasantly fragrant)
• 1 can chopped (or petite cut) tomatoes (be careful to never buy pre-seasoned canned tomatoes!)
• 3 cans chicken or veggie broth (+ about 1 can water to finish)
• 1 T cumin
• 1 T coriander
• 1.5 T black pepper
• 2 T red pepper flakes (a touch of heat is always nice)
• possibly salt to taste

Note: it really should be red lentils.  The red ones have the tough outer hulls removed and they take 40 minutes to cook instead of hours.

Variant ingredients (inspired by this recipe, 10/25/09)

• as above except
• 2 oz bacon or pancetta
• 1 cup red or french lentils
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1/4-1/2 cup white wine (or vermouth or sherry)
• 1 T thyme, dried
• 1 t tarragon, dried
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 t balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Coarsely dice one onion and mince as small as you’re patient a few (3-7, mood-dependent) cloves of garlic.  Wash enough carrot and celery to have about equal amounts to the onion (or buy a frozen mirepoix mix).  Don’t bother to peel the carrots, unless they’re really filthy, even after washing (and if they’re a mess, why did you buy them?).  Coarsely dice the carrot and celery.  In the bottom of the soup pot, over medium-high heat, splash in a little olive oil and soften the veggies for a few minutes.
2. Rinse the lentils in cold water.  You really should do this, I hear.  I never do it.  Haven’t found a rock in my lentils yet, and they don’t seem too dusty.  Probably should do this though.
3. Toss the lentils into the pot and stir to distribute the softened veggies.  Then add the can of tomatoes and the broth.  I stir between each addition, but there’s probably no good reason for that.  Later, we’ll talk about adding water.
4. After all the liquid is added and everything is nicely stirred, add the spices.  I start with the amounts above and then leave it alone.  You probably won’t need salt if you’re using canned broth (even low-sodium, which I usually use), but keep it in mind.
5. With the lid on from hear on out, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer (2-2.5 on my stovetop for this much liquid).
6. After it’s been simmering with the lid on for 5-10 minutes so the lentils start to swell, check to see if it needs more liquid.  It probably does, so add water by the 1/2 can until you’re happy.  Thicker is better than thin in my opinion, as you can always cut it later.  I end up adding about a can of water, if I remember correctly.
7. After 40 minutes, give it a taste.  If  the lentils are softened to your satisfaction, it’s done.  If it’s too thick, add a little water and give a stir.  If it needs a little more of any spice, add it in, stir thoroughly, give it a minute for the spices to hydrate, and taste again.
8. When your happy, add in 1-2 balsamic vinegar if you’re making the variant.  Regardless, enjoy!