Healthy Indian Dal Recipe

My niece Melissa is a modified vegan like myself. In addition to being a very talented young woman (budget world traveler, photographer, graphic artist and more), she loves to cook up new recipes from exotic places she has been to. Both Melissa and her husband Jake like to cook. Recently she emailed her recipe for Indian Dal. I tried it... yum with a kick (adjustable to your liking).

Check out Melissa's website: http://rouxroamer.wordpress.com

Don't you love the cooking videos of the chef throwing the recipe together in a few minutes. She picks up containers with pre-measured and pre-cut ingredients and tosses them into the pot. So simple, right? Yeah! I want someone to measure and pre-cut all the ingredients for my recipe too. That's makin' it simple.

This Dal recipe is quick to put together except for the job of cutting up the cauliflower. I needed a sous chef for that part. Perhaps you can enlist the help of a little chef in training in your household.

Add onion, ginger, cumin, turmeric, red pepper, black pepper, garam masala and garlic to heated olive oil. Saute 5 minutes.

Add cauliflower and tomatoes and saute 5 minutes.

Stir in broth and lentils and bring to a boil.

Indian Dal

from Melissa Jones

yield 6 - 8 servings

category Main Course

cuisine Indian, Vegetarian

ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled, minced

3 tsp cumin seed

3 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp garam masala

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 C cauliflower florets, chopped/crumbled

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 32 oz carton of vegetable broth

1 C dried lentils

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, minced

3/4 tsp sea salt

directions

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.

2. Add onion, ginger, cumin, turmeric, red pepper, black pepper, garam masala and garlic. Saute 5 minutes.

3. Add cauliflower and tomatoes. Saute 5 minutes.

4. Stir in broth and lentils; bring to a boil.

5. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 35 minutes or until lentils are tender. Let sit on warm until it thickens (if you like).

6. Stir in lime juice, cilantro and salt.

7. Serve 1 cup of Dal with 1 cup of cooked brown rice*, farro, quinoa or barley.

 *Add cinnamon, turmeric, ground cloves and ground pepper to the water when making the rice.

A couple of notes—adjust the heat by adding less or more red pepper flakes. To jazz up the flavor of the rice, add cinnamon, turmeric, ground cloves or pepper to the water when making the rice.

Do you have a favorite international recipe inspired by travel to another country?