Yellow Daalicious

In Indian cuisine, daal refers generally to beans or pulses (e.g. lentils). The kind of daal used in this dish is masoor daal, split red lentils. This is one of my favorite dishes to make, partly because it is pretty hard to mess up (I even burned it a bit when I made it the other night and it was still really good). The procedure follows the same general pattern as many of the other
Indian dishes we've posted, and then the lentils are cooked in coconut milk. Here is what you'll need to assemble.

1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 large onion
1 finger-length piece of ginger
3-4 garlic cloves
1-4 chili peppers
1.5 teaspoons turmeric
1.5 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon cumin
1.5 cups split red lentils
13.5 oz (400 mL) can of your favorite coconut milk

Fry the mustard and cumin seeds in oil or butter. Once they start to pop, add the onions, garlic, ginger, and chilis and cook until onions are tender. Something like this:



Add the powdered spices and salt and fry a bit longer. Add the lentils, coconut milk, and enough water to cook the lentils and bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed. Once the lentils are nice and soft, you are ready to serve over white rice.

Mmmmm! Daalish!