Lazy Lentils ~ Masoor Dal with Garlic

January 17, 2009 at 12:02 am · Filed under birds, Cooking, eapg, indian cuisine

this little chickadee was so intent on digging sunflower seed out of the snow…
he wouldn’t look up for love or money…

and when he finally did, he was facing the wrong way!

“lazy lentils” ~ masoor dal with garlic ~ served in a decorated Michigan pattern glass bowl by U.S. Glass, circa 1902

*begin bragging mom section*

It must be a January thing — this bragging mom stuff. Or maybe it’s dear Asha’s influence — see her joyous comment in a previous post!

My son made not only high honors, but a perfect 4.0 for his first term of junior year in college!! My daughter is in yet another winter play — and (hurrah!) finally deciding that going to college might be worthwhile after all — and studying for her junior year HS midterms *without* my harassing hand! 😉

*end bragging mom section*

I had a recipe for lentil soup and it called for all the usual suspects:
lentils (the plain old green grocery store variety), onion, carrots, celery —
plus the interesting addition of garlic and tomatoes.

I didn’t have plain old green lentils, nor tomatoes nor celery, so I made the soup with masoor dal, onion, carrots, and plenty of garlic. And that is how I discovered, quite by accident, that the delicate masoor dal has a great affinity for heady garlic. The trick is to slice the garlic rather thickly.

You may know that the taste of garlic depends on how you cut it. Chopped fine, it is strongest. Larger dice, a little less pungent, and whole, it can be quite mellow.
I have found that slices provide the best savory garlic flavor without overpowering.

This happy little dal discovery has been a staple on many of these chilly winter evenings when I was too lazy to *cook*. As ISG pointed out, this has been the coldest spell in a long while — so this is on the stove again tonight.

Like many recipes, it sounds more complicated than it is. This almost cooks itself — hence the title “lazy” 😉

Lazy Lentils
(masoor dal ‘lentil soup’ with plenty of garlic!)

1 small or 1/2 large red onion, diced fine
6 cloves garlic, sliced rather thickly
2 carrots, peeled and cut in medium dice

the real kitchen scene ~ no cleaning up for photos tonight

1 tsp oil or ghee (ghee is better)

3/4 c masoor dal, rinsed well
2 1/2 c water or vegetable broth
pinch turmeric
salt to taste

~~~~

In a small sauce pan, heat ghee over medium-low and add onions and garlic. Cook until translucent, about 5-10 minutes. Do not brown.

Add carrots and stir well. Cover the pan and continue to cook over med-low heat another 5-10 minutes, until carrots are softening.

Add dal, turmeric and water. Stir well, cover, and simmer over low heat about 20 minutes, until dal begins to break up. Add more water if necessary, and cook another 10 minutes or so, until dal is soft.

Salt to taste, and mix it up well with your mathu or a wooden spoon.

Serve hot as a soup or over rice as a thin dal, and enjoy the garlicky-goodness on a cold winter night! 🙂

simple pleasures on a cold evening ~ garlicky dal and old glass

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