Dhal

Traditional Indian sidedish with lentils. Dhal, dahl, dal or daal is a lentil stew that is common in southern India. Along with rice, you will have a bhat which is common in Nepal. It is a tasty, cheap and healthy stew with lentils, onions, carrots, peppers and coconut milk. Of course, there are also a lot of Indian spices such as garam masala, cumin, chili and cinnamon.

This dish takes a little while to cook, but it takes care of itself most of the time so it is not much work. Some good accessories are basmati or brown rice as well as naan bread and raita (yogurt mixed with mint and cucumber). It is also a perfect stew to serve to a larger party and on the buffet.

I started cooking this in an slowcooker, which worked really well, but I absolutely felt that the onion needed to be fried in the pot first. If you do not have an slowcooker where the pot can also be fried in, do this in a separate pot as it makes a big difference to the end result. Another tip is to leave the coconut milk until one hour left on the slowcooker timer (I ran it on low, 8 hours). If not, there is a risk that the coconut milk will burn on the edges of the pot. Lately, however, I have chosen to make this dish in a regular pot instead. Of course its faster and is not much more difficult either.

If you want more vegetables, cauliflower and broccoli works really well. You can also add quorn pieces, paneer or halloumi. In the recipe, I use rapeseed oil, but if you have access to ghee (butter where all the liquid has boiled away), use it instead.