Dahl(icious)

Please note that as with all recipes this can be varied to individual preference/past experience/etc. It is quite healthy if you don’t count the coconut cream which has atrocious levels of the bad kind of cholesterol. In India they’d probably just use water instead on account of like, y’know poverty or whatever. I’m considering trying to make it with plain yoghurt one day but it might curdle.

One onion
Three cloves of garlic finely chopped
Oil to fry
One carrot finely diced
Two tablespoons of pre-mix curry powder, or combo of turmeric, cumin, coriander, chilli.
Half a cup of red lentils
One can of lite (sorry but that’s how they always spell it) coconut cream
Five field mushrooms diced
One large tomato, diced
A large handful of spinach, chopped
Juice of one lemon
Salt to taste

Rice or quinoa or couscous to serve


Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic. Brown slightly, then add the carrot.

Mix, then add the curry powder, then lentils and stir well. Lower the heat so it doesn’t burn and add the coconut cream and cover, stirring occasionally, for ten minutes. Sort out your rice or quinoa or couscous while its simmering.

Add the mushrooms and tomato, stir in and cover again. Leave for about ten minutes (checking occasionally/stirring to ensure its not sticking to the bottom) until red lentils are quite cooked. You may need to add water because they absorb liquid quite readily.

When everything is cooked, add the spinach and lemon juice. (Adding at last minute preserves nutritional value). Stir in so the spinach wilts slightly. Salt as you wish and then serve.