Lentil dal

It was a pretty gray Sunday, but nice because we were all happy to hang out in the house. I made another pot of split pea soup and I had bought some lentils from Kalustyan's a while ago that I wanted to cook.

I love Indian food, but don't make it too often, as I don't have a lot of the spices and quite frankly, am a little intimidated by it.

I made a basic Dal, (which is cooked lentils) by first rinsing 2 cups of lentils in water. In a shallow pan with a lid, I toasted 1/2 C. mustard seeds in a teaspoon of olive oil until they began to pop open, about 1 minute. When they began to pop (you can hear them), I removed the pan from the heat, drained the lentils, and added them to the pot. I covered them with about 2 inches of water and brought them to a boil. I added in a diced onion,2 cubes each of frozen garlic, ginger and cilantro, a teaspoon of turmeric and cumin, a large teaspoon of spicy curry paste, and a pinch of salt.

I cooked the lentils covered on low heat for about 30 minutes, then threw in 1 C. of golden raisins. Most recipes say to add in 1 C. diced tomatoes, but I didn't have any, so I didn't!

I added in a little more water (about 1 C.) and continued cooking the lentils until they became soft, another 20 minutes. I cooked some rice and we enjoyed a plate of dal, rice and split pea soup.

The girls ate the last little bit of honey hoisin chicken, rice, and split pea soup. My friend brought a wonderful loaf of pear nut quick bread, I'll see if I can get the recipe.