RECIPE: Vegan Red Lentil Dal

I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen A LOT during lockdown (i mean, what else is there to do other than work), and have now gone full vegan.

This is one of my fave new recipes: Red Lentil Dal.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 x cups dry red lentils
• 1 x onion roughly chopped
• 1 x cup of canned chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp oil (your choice)
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp black or yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 1 x can coconut milk

HOW TO MAKE

• Combine the roughly shopped onion, lentils, tomatoes, cayenne pepper, coriander, ground cumin, turmeric and salt in a pan on a medium heat so that all the flavours mix together
• Add 7 cups of water and bring up to simmer
• Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are nicely cooked
• In a separate frying pan, add the oil and warm over a medium heat
• Add the cumin and mustard seeds
• Cover the pan and wait for the mustard seeds to start popping. Usually only takes about 30 seconds
• Once they start popping, add the finely chopped onion until lightly browned
• Once the lentil mixture is cooked, add the seed mixture to it along with the can of coconut milk
• Simmer for a further 10 minutes
• Serve on it’s own, or with rice or quinoa.

This made 4 decent sized portions that I served with quinoa, and an extra large portion for the freezer.