Believe it or not this was my first proper home-made Indian dish… and I suppose it’s not really Indian but it was interesting to make and tasted delicious… and anyway, it had all my favourite ingredients in it, so how could it go wrong?
The house filled with the most fragrant and exotic aromas and our mouths were watering well before it was ready!
In fact I’ve never even cooked lentils before, which some of you may find a big surprise seeing that The Viking is a vegetarian, but he’s always preferred the fake meat type foods, rather than the hippie dippie type of affair… give him the choice between a tofu burger and a ‘fake beast’ burger and he’ll go for Linda every time! For him there’s nothing worse than the nasty tomato baked goo that most veggies get offered these days… and don’t get him started on Goat’s Cheese… but that’s another story for another time.
anyhoo, the lentils, i think, collapsed on me rather too much but they still tasted great, I just need to get the hand of not over boiling them…
Here’s what and how:
1 medium onion – chopped or sliced
4 sticks of spring onion – sliced
handful of mushrooms – sliced
1 small red chilli
fresh ginger – grated
2 cloves garlic
garam masala – freshly made or store bought…but let’s face it, make it from fresh, it’s so easy!)
90g of red lentils
half a bag of fresh spinach
4 sweet potatoes
First cut the sweet potatoes into wedges, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven on high for at least 30mins, until sticky and crisp.
In a casserole dish or a pan, fry the onions in plenty of butter and olive oil, until translucent, then add the finely chopped chilli, ginger and garlic, and sweat till tender, then add the garam masala and coat the whole lot together, keep the heat low so as not to burn and let the spices mellow into the onions…
Add the mushrooms to the mix and with the lid on and again a very low heat, let them sweat in all the juices.
Meanwhile prepare the lentils as per the instructions on the packet. I added some hot chilli powder to mine as it boiled, which gave it an extra kick!
Once the lentils are ready add the spinach to them and with a lid on and the heat off, let them wilt into the pot. Then add the lentils to the onion mix and stir it all together to create a fragrant and scrumptious Dahl.
To serve, spoon the dahl into a bowl and place the roasted sweet potatoes onto the top, with some fresh coriander to finish.
eat and of course, enjoy!
