Green Dahl

This recipe is one of our family favourites.  It is an extremely healthy and tasty dish, perfect for cooler weather.  I have named it 'green' dahl because it uses whole mung dahl, which is green in colour, and I add a selection of green vegies.

What I have discovered in preparing this blog post is that dahl tastes a lot better than it looks.  Trying to photograph it to make it look anything other than mush was challenging.  But it does taste wonderful.

What you will need:

2 tbsp vegetable oil (I use rice bran oil)
1 cup mung dahl (not hulled, it should be green)
2 small onions
20 curry leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 - 3cm piece ginger, grated (approx 2-3 tsp)
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock (I use vegan 'chicken' stock, Massel brand)
1 1/2 cups mixed green vegetables (I used half green beans and half zucchini)
1/4 cup fresh coriander stems and/or leaves, chopped finely
1/2 cup frozen peas

What you need to do:

1. Heat a heavy based saucepan or stock pock and heat before adding oil.  Finely dice the onions and add to the heated pan.  Fry on low heat until soft.

2. Measure dry spices ready to add later.

3. If lentils have been soaking, drain ready to add later.

4. Add the ginger, garlic and curry leaves and cook for a further couple of minutes.

5. Add dry spices and cook another minute while continuing to stir.

6. Add drained lentils and stir well.

7. Add stock and bring to a simmer.

8. Chop coriander stems and leaves and add to dahl.  I usually use the stems mostly, and save the leaves to finish the dish when serving.

9. Chop up the green vegetables.

10. After lentils have been cooking for about 15 minutes, add the green vegies.  At this stage the lentils should be fairly soft.

11.  Once the lentils and vegetables are cooked, about another 10 minutes, add the peas.

12.  Stir though some chopped coriander leaves.  Dahl can be served with rice and extra coriander sprinkled on top.

Notes:  

• This dahl is also lovely with baby spinach leaves stirred through at the end.  Spinach leaves can also be used instead of peas.
• You don't need to soak the lentils before cooking but if you have time you can soak for a couple of hours to reduce the time.  It isn't necessary though.