What a Dal

My name is Kirsten, and I am a hoarder.  Of lentils.  I found all of these in my cabinet.  I do not know where they came from.  I do not know how I bought a bag of lentils at one point, and then on two more occasions decided I should buy lentils from bulk bins.  And one of those bags is huge.  What on earth was I planning on doing with so many lentils?  

I think I know where my lentil hoarding came from.  My mom is a chocolate chip hoarder.  Boom.  Roasted.  

I will probably not be allowed in my parents' house without supervision after posting this photo.  I love you, Mom. :) 

I had stumbled upon my lentil stockpile when I was looking for rice to make with chicken curry.  I figured I might as well make a dent in my lentil stash, so I consulted the Joy of Cooking for some ideas.  I decided on dal because it was simple and would work well the the curry.  

I'm no dal expert, but I do know that it comes in many variations.  Some are more on the soupy side, and some are more on the pasty side.  Some have add-ins, and some are basically lentils and spices.  Some use red lentils, and some use black lentils.  The version I made was more on the pasty side (but could have been taken off the heat earlier to make a soupier version) with just a few spices.  I pretty much followed the Joy of Cooking recipe, making adjustments according to the ingredients I had on hand.  

Start with a cup of lentils.  Rinse them and pick out any bad seeds.  

Put them in a saucepan with 2 cups of water.  

Then add the following:

1/4 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer.  

Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.  Then add another cup of water and 3/4 tsp salt.  Simmer, partially covered, until it reaches your desired consistency.  

Here's what mine looked like right before I removed it from the heat.  JoC suggests adding in chopped chiles or tomatoes, but I decided to leave it as it was.  

Matt and I both really liked it.  I just ate mine straight, and he mixed his with rice.  I will definitely be making this again, trying out different spice combos and add-ins.  I think my next version will include some garam masala, which is currently stinking up my cupboard in the best possible way.