My Delicious 'Big Batch of Dahl' Recipe

“First we eat, then we do everything else.”
– M.F.K. Fisher

While growing up dahl was pretty much always a staple dish in my family and it quickly grew to become one of my favourite foods. Several years back I learned how to cook it for myself, and now do so regularly. It’s quick, easy, extremely affordable and of course, delicious.

Most of the ingredients and spices needed to make dahl everyone will have lying around the kitchen, which means you have no excuse to give making it a try! A big batch of the stuff can feed a family (and then some!) cheaply. It’s a hearty treat, ideal to warm you up on a chilly day or comfort you when you have a cold.

This recipe is one of my ultimate go-to’s, and is a favourite on my rotation of quick and easy vegetarian dishes that keeps really well. I will always have a tupperware (or three!) of the stuff either in my fridge ready for an instant lunch solution, or in my freezer just in case I can’t be bothered to cook one evening.

What is dahl?

Interestingly, dahl is both a dish and an ingredient. Dahl originated in India and the name refers to lentils and split peas etc., as well as the spiced stew of which they are made from.

And, while dahl recipes vary greatly depending on what region of India they are found, for this recipe I will be recreating the type of red lentil dahl that I grew up eating, very much like a tarka dahl (lentils cooked with onions, garlic, tomatoes and spices).

Here is how you can make one of my favourite home cooked meals yourself…

Ingredients:

Two cups (400g) split red lentils
Your preferred oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
Two finely chopped onions
1 tbsp fresh ginger (grated or very finely chopped)
As many chillies as you dare!
6 garlic cloves (or more!)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp paprika
2 chopped tomatoes
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Coriander

Method:

Pop your lentils into a big pot and rinse them out a few times or until the water runs clear. Add 6 cups of water to the pot and let the lentils cook away for 20 mins. Keep an eye on the pot as you go and skim off any foam that builds up during cooking (see image below).
In a separate pan fry off the onions and mustard seeds in oil until they become soft and golden and the mustard seeds have ‘popped’.
Slice the chillies in half lengthways and chuck them in (stalks still attached as you can pick out the chillies at the end!) with the garlic and ginger into the onion mixture and allow to cook for a few minutes.
Now add the spices, chopped tomatoes and a few tablespoons of water to the pan and cook for 5 mins. The whole mixture should be rich in colour and the tomatoes should get soft and melt into the rest of the ingredients, forming a sort of paste.
Once the lentils are cooked you can add the frying pan mixture into the lentil pot, combine the two and leave to simmer for a bit. At this point you can add the lemon juice and season the dahl with salt to taste.

It’s as easy as that!

You can serve this right away or leave it in your fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days or freeze it for an easy last minute dinner.

This recipe yields about 4 main meal servings or lots more if you’re just having the dahl as a side dish for a dinner party or family meal.

I normally divide my dahl up into tupperware containers for my lunches as meal prep and have it with some rice and yoghurt. You could also serve this with some paratha and chutneys as an accompaniment to a curry dinner too.

Customise it!

-If you’re halving or doubling the recipe, remember that for each cup of lentils you will need to add 3 cups of water.

-Don’t have fresh ginger? Use ginger paste instead. The same goes for the garlic.

-Don’t have fresh tomatoes? Feel free to use some tinned chopped or tinned plum tomatoes.

-Hate the taste of coriander? Leave it out, this recipe still tastes fab without it. Or try some dried coriander if you fancy.

-Use whatever chillies you have – I normally chuck in as many as I want depending on how spicy I would like the dahl to be. And they don’t have to be fresh chillies either – chilli flakes work too.