Spicy Red Lentil Dal

During a month of pretty strict vegetarianism back in January, I searched high and low for meatless recipes that my diabetic, meat-eating father would also like. Luckily, we both love spicy Indian food. 

Also lucky for us, India is known for some pretty wonderful spicy lentil dishes. This makes sense considering that the country produces half the world's lentils.

Lentils are high in fiber, both soluble and insoluble, and packed with minerals and vitamins like potassium, magnesium, and folate. These little legumes have also been shown to lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease, and decrease the risk of becoming overweight or diabetic.

Now, if you are like my dad and a diabetic, here is the "sell" for you:

lentils help regulate blood sugar.

Now, if you are non-diabetic and an occasional vegetarian like me, here is the "sell" for you:

Lentils are packed with protein and iron.

If these facts alone don't sell you on lentils I don't know what will...except that there are only 230 calories in one cup of cooked lentils (I usually can't even eat an entire cup without getting full first!) AND they will most likely be the least expensive item in your grocery cart.

Hmm, healthy, nourishing, cheap and a good weight-loss food? This must all be too good to be true. Once you taste this lentils recipe though, I don't think that you will need to be "sold" any longer.

Spicy Red Lentil Dal
From "The 10 Things You Need to Eat"

This dish is so filling that you really don't need to serve it with anything else, but we like to garnish it with a yogurt sauce and maybe some sliced avocado, Sriracha hot sauce, or fresh cilantro. The first time I made this, I served it with okra cornbread fritters, and to be honest, I think that they were what might have helped sell the lentils to my dad.

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons cloves
2 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 dashes of cayenne 
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2-3 large cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of grated, fresh ginger
2 cups chopped plum tomatoes 
1 1/2 cup dried red lentils
3 cups homemade vegetable stock

To get started, I suggest getting the chopping out of the way first, particularly the onions. Onions never fail to make me cry so if my nice boyfriend is around I usually solicit him for the job. He doesn't mind, he likes to nibble on the raw onions while he cooks.

Heat the oil in a large pan and when the oil is runny enough to coat the bottom of the pan, throw in all those delicious onions. If the nice boyfriend did not help cut onions, this smell will usually bring him in the kitchen to help out with the rest of dinner.

Mix all the spices together in a small bowl while the onions saute, and then stir in the spices. This is my favorite part of cooking this dish. The smell of the spice mixture when it hits the onions is unbelievable.

Add the chopped tomatoes and stir together until combined. Hand-grate the ginger over the mixture and cook for about five minutes, or until the tomatoes have softened.

Stir in the dry lentils and stock. Once you have brought the now soupy mixture to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 15-20 more minutes. The lentils will soak up all the wonderful spice-laced vegetable broth. Keep a good eye on them; depending on your pot and stove they may cook faster and they will stick pretty quickly. If this happens, just mix in a little more vegetable stock.

The original recipe calls for the juice of 1/2 a lemon at the end, but I never seem to have lemon on hand when I make this dish. If you try it this way, let me know.

The yogurt sauce we make is a little different each time depending on the ingredients we have available. Try any combination of the following:

• Plain yogurt, Greek yogurt, or a combination of the two
• Chopped or grated cucumber
• Little splash of vinegar (white wine vinegar is our go-to, but you can also use red wine, balsamic, or rice wine vinegar)

When I was living in Atlanta, Georgia, I had trouble finding the full lentil variety in regular grocery stores so I suggest the Indian grocery stores in Decatur (Patel Brothers or Cherians International Groceries). Here in Panama however there are enough colors of lentils to make me giddy with all the new recipes I can try: lentil veggie burgers with pomegranate ketchup, curried lentil soup, mushroom and lentil pot pies with gouda biscuit topping, just to name a few. I might even make some herbed lentils and bacon for David. After all, he did help me with those onions...