Recipe: Lentil Curry - Dhal

Tonight I cooked a sort of Indian Dhal, I was in the mood for lentils for a while now, and I hadn't eaten curry in a while so I was in the mood for that.. I might have also gotten in the mood for curry because I've been watching too many episodes of (Junior) Masterchef Australia and there have been various curries that passed my screen. As it has finally cooled down a bit I figured I should actually cook something today, and that something could eve be spicy. I googled for lentil curries and found a couple of recipes that seemed delicious but I ended up making this rather simple one I found on Allrecipes because I actually had all of the ingredients at home. I did want to add some spinach but I forgot that while cooking but it was really good all the same. Definitely making it again but I'll add some more chili to make it spicier and I'll try it with spinach to make it a bit more varied. All in all though this is a quick (not counting cooking the lentils, or using canned lentils) and easy recipe and it has a delicious mixture of flavors. It might not look pretty but it's definitely tasty!

Ingredients for four servings

200 g red lentils
1 large onion, diced
8 ml vegetable oil
15 g curry paste
3 g curry powder
1 g curcuma
1 g cumin
1 g chili powder
3 g salt
2 g white sugar
1 g minced garlic
1 g ginger root, minced
200 g tomato puree

Prepare the lentils (soak them, cook them or don't do anything if you used canned ones). In the meantime saute your onions until they're brown. Mix all the spices with the curry paste and sugar and salt in a bowl (depending on how spicy you want it, use more or less curry pasta or chili; I personally think I will add some cilantro powder as well next time as some more chili or curry pasta to make it even spicier). Add that mixture to the onions and stir fry for about 1 or 2 minutes. Start adding the tomato puree by stirring it in. Once everything is done, mix everything with the lentils and serve.

I didn't have fresh ginger root, so I just used ginger powder and I added a bit more sugar because my curry paste is pretty salty, I recommend going by taste adding the spices but obviously don't overdo it on one or that will take the upper hand, be careful that the proportions are right. I also added some soy cooking cream to make the tomato puree a bit more creamier but that's not necessary. I can really see this dish with coconut milk as well so I'll probably be trying that next time!

You can serve it with bread, if you want to keep it completely Indian serve with Naan or Papadum for example, or serve with rice.