My sister and my dear friend S. were coming over the other night for dinner. It was nearly 6 pm, I was tired and hungry, and I wanted to have something ready by the time the girls arrived. So I pulled out my four pound bag of red lentils and set to work.
I know what your thinking: “Honey, please. Dried legumes take forever to cook. Don’t tell me you thought to soak dried beans overnight the night before.” Would you kindly quit rolling your eyes and pay attention for a moment, please? Red lentils are so very tasty, and you can have them on your dinner table in under 30 minutes with no advance planning.
Red lentils cook very quickly because they are both split and hulled. Think of your basic brown lentil, split in half with its skin removed. Without their skins, these bad boys cook to tenderness in 10-15 minutes.
I’m no expert in Indian cuisine, but I do love me some dal. It’s soft and flavorful and so very satisfying served over basmati rice. Since I was looking for a quick meal, I used a spice blend called Chana Dal masala from MDH (caution — noisy link), which I picked up on my most recent visit to Kalustyan’s. (It’s available at many Indian markets.) Though I substituted red lentils for chana dal (a small split chick pea), I otherwise followed the recipe on the back of the box of masala. The tomatoes from the recipe really play well together with the coriander and cumin from the spice blend, and the chili pepper makes things just spicy enough to be interesting.
I served my lentils with brown basmati rice that I baked in the oven – a fantastic trick (even if it does take an hour). Delicious!
Red Lentil Dal
(adapted from MDH)
Ingredients:
Directions: