Skip to main content

Eat This Daaling

When it comes to nutritious, affordable food, lentils can't be beat. Also, unlike dried beans, dried lentils cook quickly and do not have to be soaked. They are also incredibly versatile. They can be added to salad, pasta dishes, stews, etc. A few weeks ago I made a lentil chili that was yummy. Daal is a staple Indian dish that is comforting, flavourful and delish. You can serve it over brown rice or other grain, spread it in a whole wheat wrap or flatbread or simply serve it as a side dish with your meal. I like to make up a batch ahead of time and then have a quick and filling lunch for the next few days. Perfect chilly, autumn food!

1 cup red lentils, rinsed
2.5 cups water

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion minced (I threw the whole thing in the food processor)
1 piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tbls garam masala or good quality curry powder
1/2 tsp turmuric
1/2 tsp salt, or more, to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, if you want heat)
4 tbls cider vinegar or lemon juice (the vinegar will give a sweeter taste)

Place lentils and water in saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium low and simmer, uncovered until lentils are soft and have absorbed most of the liquid (about 40 minutes).

Set a large skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Add oil and cook onion for 1-2 minutes. Add seasonings and spices and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Pour in vinegar or lemon juice and stir. Scrape lentil mixture into pan and simmer for about 5-6 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste, and thin out daal with a bit of water if it gets too thick (I like it thick!).

Serves 2 as a main, or 4 as a side dish. Leftovers can be refridgerated for a few days or frozen for up to 3 months.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The A to Z of Children's Health

Hey there, welcome to Monday!  We had a delightful, relatively quiet weekend.  How was yours?  Hopefully no one in your home was sick...there is a lot of nasty stuff going around these days. If you're a parent, than you have probably spent far more time that you would like to desperately searching Google and/or parenting books trying to figure out if your child's rash, cough or fever warrants a trip to the doctor or if there is something that can be done to treat it.  It's hard not to worry that it could be something more ominous that just an every day infection and while you'd make yourself (and everyone around you) nuts if you panicked every time your kid has the sniffles, as a parent, you naturally want to do everything in your power to prevent your child from harm. Recently I was sent The A to Z of Children's Health , written by doctors Jeremy Friedman, Natasha Saunders, and Norman Saunders, of Toronto's very own Hospital for Sick Children .  One of th

How to Look Like a Celebrity

Okay, I know you're going to be interested in this post! I am sure virtually every woman in North America has wondered how Hollywood celebrities achieve such 'perfect' bodies.  Well, at CAN FIT PRO last week, one of Hollywood's top fitness trainers, Eric the Trainer , was there to tell us fitness professionals the secrets! Eric the Trainer, gave several presentations, and I caught the one on Celebrity Secrets, and it was most interesting!!!  I also found some of what he said rather disturbing. First off, he was very upfront about the fact that celebrities come to him for improve their appearance.  Not to improve their health or athletic performance.  To look their best.  He admitted that his approach then, is entirely dedicated to that end. Male and female celebrities are trained in completely different ways because Hollywood wants women to be lithe and thin and in his words, "look like they dropped out of heaven looking this way without every having ste

Blackfly Coolers: Product Review

Summer is over! Well, at least if you're a student. Officially it doesn't end for a few weeks, and it certainly still feels like summer. Yeah, I hate it. This f*cking hot, humid weather needs to end NOW! We made the most of our last weekend of the summer with our annual trip to the CNE on Friday, with a crowd of friends. It wasn't unbearably lot, thank goodness, and the girls and their friends had a blast on the rides.  Saturday I had to work, and Sunday was errand day. Monday we took the girls berry/apple/pear picking but didn't last long due to the heat. I organized the house to prepare for the construction workers starting back up yesterday, while Adam took the girls for a swim in our neighbourhood pool. Yesterday was the first day of school. Grade 2 and Grade 5. Yep, the girls are growing up.  We are fortunate that the girls don't have much anxiety about school, they are so much more confident than I ever was as a kid! But now, in the midst of our reno ch