Lime Ginger Dal 💛
You can almost feel your body thank you when you eat some warming Dal and this one is easy, quick and delicious. I adapted this from a recipe I came across in a beautiful Ayurvedic living cookbook. The original recipe called for lemon but as I had excess limes and hardly any lemons on the tree, well that was that ! It really is again all about the spices in Dal that make it, the citrus just balances the flavours. Lemon or lime, lime or lemons use what you have.
Dal is a term for both a type of lentil and soup dish which really is nourishing, satisfying and warming on a winters day. Easy on digestion, fibre & protein rich if you look into dal for health and you will see so many wonderful benefits to this traditional much loved Indian dish. It has a deep fascinating history.
You can make it this way for a bowl of goodness or you can use as a staple and add some sautéed greens, basmati rice or chapati to round out a meal.
Recipe
1/2 cup red lentils
1 cup split yellow mung dal or chana dal
Rinse the Lentils and Chana Dal well.
Spices
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 inch fresh ginger
1 tablespoon ground tumeric
1 tablespoon ground corinander
1/4 teaspoon asafetida
6 cups of water
In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse the red lentils and dal, drain and set aside. Roughly grind the cumin and black mustard seeds in a mortar and pestle to open up the aromas, set aside.
In a large pot, heat some olive oil or some sesame oil on medium-low heat. Add the fresh ginger and all the dried herbs and cook for a minute or so until you can smell the delicious aroma of the herbs. Add in the lentils and dal and stir until coated. Add water and salt. Raise the heat to medium and bring to a slow simmer. Cook until most of the water has infused into the dal leaving a nice rich consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
When the dal is ready and served up add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and fresh coriander to top it off ! I added some chilli flakes, extra cumin seeds and some natural yoghurt and of course added lots of fresh coriander. The base of the dish is simple and then you can spice it up the way you like it.
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