The other day I was seriously uninspired when it came to supper. No exageration. Usually I don't mind cooking, but my kitchen was pretty bare, and I didn't really have any vegetables in the house other than tomatoes, and those were on the sofer end and needed to be cooked to eat. I had no clue what to make to serve my family, and then I remembered a recipe my friend Rachel had shared with me, claiming it was delicious and easy. Well- that's exactly what I needed! And since it was tomato based, even better!This recipe for tomato dal (Indian lentil sauce) is loosely based on this recipe. Meaning- I started off with that recipe, saw I didn't have a bunch of the ingredients that it called for, so played around with it and made it my own. I can't tell you how the original recipe tastes, but the version that I made was terrific! I served it with rice cooked with tomatoes and turmeric, and it hit the spot.
I hope you like this recipe as much as I do! This is vegan, allergy friendly (unless you have allergies to nightshades and/or mustard), gluten free, GAPS legal (leave out the rice), and just an all around cheap, good meal.
Tomato Dal Recipe- Gluten Free, Vegan, GAPS Legal
Ingredients:2/3 cup red lentils
1 large onion (I used purple because that's what I had, but white is fine)
3 tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups tomatoes
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
3/4 teaspoon cumin
4 cloves garlic
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Hot pepper flakes to taste
Instructions:
1. Chop the tomatoes and onion.
2. Place in a pot with the lentils and water.
3. Bring to a boil, and cook until lentils are soft and starting to mush. Cooking it in a pressure cooker will make it go much faster, but it isn't necessary.
4. In a separate pan, heat up the oil. When hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin, and chopped garlic and cook until the garlic browns.
5. Add the oil, spices, and garlic to the lentils.
6. Mix well, and add salt, lemon juice, and hot pepper flakes to taste.
Enjoy!
Are you a fan of red lentils? What is your favorite thing to do with them? Does this look like a recipe you'd enjoy?
What's the last thing you cooked when you were completely uninspired?
Tags
dairy free
egg free
extreme frugality
frugal strategies
GAPS
gluten free
grain free
indian
legumes
lentils
recipes
vegan
vegetables
vegetarian
My favorite thing to make with red lentils is dal! I love Indian breads, especially naan, but have never tried to make it gluten free. I eat dal over basmati rice. There are many dal recipes, made from many different lentils and small beans such as mung beans. I have enjoyed learning about them by watching Manjula on Manjula's kitchen. She has a blog also. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb75CvYbm5BXpbEkGqFKABw
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great! We make our red lentil dal with carrots. I'm not sure if they are GAPS legal (ignorant of GAPS, but I know carrots are a forbidden carb in a few diets) but the recipe definitely is vegan and GF, and delicious.
ReplyDeleteAnother great vegan, GF recipe for red lentils and tomatoes, with carrots, is Apricot Lentil Soup.
At this time of year, if I feel uninspired, I typically make some variation of Summer Vegetable Sunflower Blop, a recipe that needed a name and finally got one thanks to your typo last summer! :-)
Becca, you seriously cracked me up with your post about vegetable blop... :-D I literally was laughing out loud from that.
DeleteMy favourite recipe with red lentils is also a soup with curry spices, onion, garlic, chilis and kale. I have some in the fridge and am going to heat some up right now. I want to try Becca's recipe with apricots as well.
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with dal but I wanted to leave a note. Thank you for recommending Music Magpie - it worked really well. There's a long story that involves a cross country move but at the end of the day I agreed to sell my future brother-in-law's DVD/old console game collection... all 350 or so of them. I don't know how much time it saved, per se, compared to the local used book chain but I got to do it in my PJs and on my schedule.
ReplyDeleteI think what might be nice for someone else is that you immediately get an offer and can choose to accept it or delete your item and keep going. At my local options you would have had to stand at the counter with the store employee and yea/nay every item, keeping track of what you were keeping and what you were selling (this area is ALWAYS a mess). DVDs averaged about 50 cents, games a few dollars (there were a few exceptions - some out of production DVDs got $3-$4 each). Could you get more on ebay? Sure, maybe, but I don't have time for that. Thanks for the tip!