Lovely Lentils

Tonight's dinner was a "Simple Lentil Dal with Cumin and Dried Red Chiles which was superb! A dal is a simple dish that is prepared almost daily in Indian homes. This particular dal was made with masoor dal, which are lovely pink lentils. I found these dal at an Indian market here in Plano.

I started with a cup of the lovely lentils covered with 4 cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, and salt. These were brought to a boil, skimmed and then covered and simmered for 15 minutes. In addition to their lovely color, these lentils cook in only 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, I removed 1/2 cup of cooked lentils, and mashed them in a bowl before adding them back in the pot to thicken the rest of the soup.

I then made a tempering oil by combining 2 1/2 tablespoons of canola oil with 1 1/4 teaspoons cumin seeds, stirring over medium heat for a couple of minutes. I tossed in a couple of dried whole red chile peppers and stirred for another 30 seconds. I removed the pan from the heat, added 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and then added a couple of drops of water to stop the cooking.

I added half of this tempering oil into the pot of cooked lentils and stirred briefly with a whisk to break up more of the lentils to make a thick dal. I ladled some of the dal into bowls and drizzled some of the remaining tempering oil over the top.

This was absolutely delicious. My recipe books says once you have mastered this recipe, there are 3 more that are based on the same lentil mixture, but tempered at the end and/or at the beginning with different spices, which gives each one a completely different flavor. I can't wait to experiment with the other variations.