Quick and budget lentil dal recipe

As usual, today I will show you a cheap and easy recipe to do during lockdown 😉 Bonus: it’s vegan and healthy. 

Powers of this recipe:

Brighten your home office day

Impress your best friend

Bring you to India without moving

2 portions

: easy to prepare

10min preparation + 50min cooking

3€ (+ spices and olive oil)

Vegan

Ingredients for 2 portions (except if you can’t stop 😉) 

• 150g red lentils
• 1 little box of chopped tomatoes (around 400g, no need to have the perfect weight)

• 1 pepper (red, yellow or green)
• 1 oignon 
• 100g rice

• Spices (what you have in your food press! Can be curry, paprika, red chili powderi, black pepper, cumin, turmeric, coriander…)

• 2 table spoon of olive oil

Preparation of this quick and budget lentil dal recipe

1. cut the onions into 1cm squares
2. Put olive oil in a pan, and after 2-3 minutes, add the onions at medium heat. Let them become a little bit brown, about 20 minutes. Don’t forget to stir regularly so you’re not burning them 😉
3. Boil water in a medium pot
4. Cut the green pepper into 1 to 2cm squares
5. Put the pepper and the red lentils together in boiling water. Cook over low heat during 15min.

While the pot and pan get ready, relax! Take a book, a beer, your cat or anything that makes you happy 😉 

1. Drain the lentils and the pepper, and add them to the pan, with the onions
2. Add the box of chopped tomatoes, a pinch of salt and pepper… And spices of course! You can put a lot of different spices, whatever will inspire you and will give an Indian touch to your meal. For spices quantities, my better advice would be to begin with little quantities… and taste! Trust in yourself! Usually I put 2 teaspoons of curry, 1 teaspoon of medium chili, and 1 teaspoon of cumin. But there is no rule, everything depends on what you like, and what you have in your press.

1. Let it cook for about 30min… It will smell good in your kitchen!
2. 20 minutes before the end, boil some water in a little pot, then add the rice (follow the instructions on the packaging)

READY!! You can now serve a bit of rice and a bit of lentil dahl to you and a friend, take everything for you, or prepare a lunch box for the next day.

So, do you want to try?

For cooking chiefs who already did it, did you like this Indian dhal recipe? Which spices did you use? Let’s give some inspiration, let’s share your experience! 

To know a little bit more on this indian dhal recipe.

Dal (or Dhal) is a term used in Asia to refer to dried pulses (either it is lentils, beans or peas). We commonly use it to describe the recipe itself: a sort of lentils stew (green or red), in which you can add a variety of items: tomatoes and peppers like in this recipe, but also mango, chickpeas, spinach, cabbage… There is no end to creativity, and every family have their own recipe.

This website will has some very interesting information about the origin of this famous meal: https://www.thebetterindia.com/92642/food-history-dal-lentils-india/

This vegan meal has really good nutritive qualities. The combination between lentils and rice will provide you with a high level of proteins. Lentils are rich in amino acids and high in protein. However, we can’t say they are “complete proteins”, meaning they can’t replace meat on their own, due to a lack of cysteine and methionine. Good news, pairing with rice, which contains a lot of these, is a perfect match! See this really clear website for more details: https://oureverydaylife.com/272437-rice-and-lentils-for-nutrition.html

When I got the chance to go to Nepal, I discovered they were eating “Dal Bhat” (Dal means “lentils” and Bhat means “rice”) twice a day, all their life long. The nutritious characteristics of this combination can explain this mono-meal choice.

Interested in other cheap and easy recipes to do during lockdown? Here is a bit of inspiration for you:

Quick and excellent Korean recipe: http://ucd-5469086.hs-sites.com/en/did-you-say-quick-and-excellent-korean-recipe

Lasagna made simple: http://ucd-5469086.hs-sites.com/en/lasagna-made-simple

Easy vegetarian baked feta pasta dish: http://ucd-5469086.hs-sites.com/en/easy-vegetarian-baked-feta-pasta-dish

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