Thursday, April 1, 2010

Recipes: Homemade Veggie Dal


-3 cups dry lentils, washed (I used green, they were the cheapest)
-add water to clean lentils until they are all covered
-put on stove and bring to boil, then turn heat down to low to simmer while you prepare the veggies

-6 carrots, washed chopped coarsely, add to pot
-6 potatoes, washed and chopped coarsely, immediately added to pot (I used 3 purple, and 3 red- a shortcut is to microwave before chopping- cuts cooking time)
-1 bunch of kale, washed, stemmed and chopped coarsely, add to pot
-1 large onion, chopped immediately added to pot
-10 cloves of garlic, or to taste, chopped coarsely, immediately added to pot
-5 stalks of celery, washed chopped. I used them to circulate the veggies in my fridge, I say add any veggies to this, and it will be delicious
-5 hot peppers, or to taste depending on how spicy you like it

I then added for flavor:
-a few TBSPs of Sweet Bombay Yellow Curry Powder
-a few TSPs of Fresh Ground Cumin
- Salt, to taste
-Pepper, to taste
-a big chunk of Vegan margarine (Earth Balance) *optional

-a splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-1 cube of vegan bouillon *optional
-some dried parsley (we eat it with everything)
- crushed red pepper flakes, because we like things spicy

Let it simmer and cook until the lentils were soft (about an hour), stirring occasionally. After the lentils were soft I took a hand blender and partially pureed giving a thicker, creamier texture, but leaving several large veggie chunks (don't over mix).

Added on top of brown rice, but also good over quinoa. Enjoy!