Cooking with Kent and Vidushi: Dal

Dearest fine readers of Mirror,

Welcome back to another edition of Cooking with Kent and Vidushi! This week, Vidushi is sharing a recipe inspired by a current health trend.

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As I rode down the escalator of my neighborhood’s Target in Boston —  the city where I am spending my off term — I saw an odd sign. It was a Starbucks advertisement for the store’s new protein coffees. Despite being a non-coffee drinker, I was intrigued. Who is trying to hit their daily recommended serving of protein with coffee?

Protein is The Thing right now. Everyone’s talking about it. Protein bars, protein shakes, protein popcorn, protein ice cream, pea protein, whey protein, hemp protein. Holy cow. And when people aren’t talking about protein, they’re consuming it. So, Starbucks’ foray into the protein universe is not completely random.

However, here’s my pitch. Put down the sugar-free caramel protein latte. Let’s go back to the basics. Today I am sharing probably one of the easiest Indian recipes there is: dal. Sometimes also spelled daal. It is a comforting and simple lentil soup that is a staple in Indian households. It also happens to be packed with protein.

As with essentially all of my recipes published and unpublished, I have shamelessly ripped this one off from my mother. She is one of the best cooks I know, and it would be a disservice to all of you if I did not let her influence shine through.

Without any further ado, dal.

Ingredients:

For the dal:

• 1 cup masoor dal (soaked in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes to an hour).
• 2 medium size tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt, to taste

Additions: 

• 2 tablespoons of ghee
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 inch piece of ginger, finely minced
• 1/8 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 2 green chillies (optional; I have an embarrassingly low spice tolerance and therefore skip!)

Wash the soaked lentils thoroughly. In a large pot, add the soaked lentils, chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt and two cups of water. Cook everything for 15 to 20 minutes. The dal will begin to cook and will look mushy. 

In a pan, heat the ghee and saute the onions until they are golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Then add in the cumin and mustard seeds. Cook for an additional minute. Next add in the coriander powder and saute for an additional 30 seconds. Immediately add the cooked dal to this pan. If you don’t have all of these spices at home — I most certainly do not have all of them in my off term kitchen — feel free to swap or skip some entirely. 

I usually eat dal with rice,  called dal chawal, but you can eat it plain as well! I recommend topping it with a squeeze of lemon or lime and some finely chopped cilantro.