Dal (lentil) recipe

I cook a lentil dish at least once a week we sometimes eat Lentils with rice or with chapaties / naan bread depending on how the lentil has been cooked. Lentils are a really good source of nutrition, they are low in calories and high in protein and are a main part of Asian cooking. Lentils are becoming popular in the UK and I have seen lentil soups being sold in many cafe's locally. Lentils can be found in all the supermarkets in the Asian food aisle. 

There are different varieties of lentils brown lentils, green lentils, yellow and red lentils. The most popular lentil and favourite in my house is Channa Dal (yellow lentil) and lal massor (red lentil) although I do cook the other varieties as well. 

The first recipe I am going to put on the blog for lentils is for the red lentils and I usually cook this when I want a quick meal and we eat this with rice and salad. 

Red Lentils break up when cooked and you can also use this recipe as a soup.

This recipe makes enough for 4 people as a main meal 

Ingredients:

Red Lentils 250g (1 normal size mug)
1 clove of garlic thinly sliced
Red chilli powder (1 tsp) use less chilli if you don't want it too spicy
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt (to taste)
Lemon Juice 1 tblsp

For the Tarka;

Oil 2 to 3 tblsp
Cumin seeds ( 1/2 tsp)
curry leaves 3
Whole red chilli 3 or use crushed chilli (1/4 tsp)
1 clove of garlic thinly sliced

Wash the lentils and put in a pan add water so that the lentils are covered with water and there is 3 cm of water above the lentils put on a medium heat and add the 1 clove of thinly sliced garlic and the chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Cook for 20 minutes and stir the lentils should break on stirring and the consistency is of a broth or thick soup. You can add more water or reduce the water depending on how thick you want the dal to be add the lemon juice when cooked.

In a small pan add the oil when hot add the ingredients for the tarka (add the garlic first) when they are sizzling add to the cooked dal and serve.