main-meals

Dahl with Spinach and Tomatoes

January 07

An authentic dhal is hard to beat and really worth finding the correct spices for. Store them in airtight containers and use up within 3 months or they will start to loose their flavour. This would also be delicious with a simple piece of steamed fish but I love a bowl of it just on its own.

Serves 4
50 mins

Method

1. Put the lentils into a heavy-based pan, with the ginger, the coriander stalks and a teaspoon of salt then pour over the coconut milk and 600ml of water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, adding the tomatoes after 10 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes the lentils will have broken down and will be thick and creamy. Then whisk until the mixture becomes smooth. If it is to thick then you can add a little more water. Leave to simmer gently while you get the spice mixture ready.
3. Heat the oil in a small heavy-based frying pan. Add the turmeric, cumin, ground coriander, mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves. Leave them to temper. The oil should be bubbling and the seeds popping. This will take about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
4. Stir straight into the lentils reserving 1 tablespoon. Be careful, as the mixture may spit a little. Whisk until well combined and then stir in the baby spinach, lemon juice and spring onions.
5. Ladle the dahl into bowls, then sprinkle over the coriander leaves, reserved spices and spring onions to serve.

300g red lentils

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

A handful of coriander, stalks finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped

300ml coconut milk

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

3 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp of mustard seeds

1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

8 curry leaves (fresh is best or dried)

100g baby spinach leaves

juice of 1 lemon

2 spring onions, finely sliced

You'll Need

Heavy based saucepan

Heavy based frying pan

If you liked this

This is very similar to a Thai green curry but it’s a lot lighter in terms of spices, sticking mainly with the fresh ingredients like ginger and lemongrass. I use Kaffir lime leaves here, which some supermarkets carry in the herb section, Asian markets are also bound to have them. Improvise with finely grated zest of lime. If you haven’t used lemongrass before it’s a fantastic little ingredient which is responsible for giving this dish that wonderful light and fragrant flavour. To prepare, slice off the woody ends and the root, you should be left with about 2-3 inches. If you don’t have a hand blender, just chop the paste ingredients until they’re as fine as you can get them.

main-meals
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Healthy Singapore Noodles

February 14

Singapore noodles are a standard Chinese restaurant dish, but making them at home is so easy and it also means you can monitor what’s going in to them, adding whatever healthy vegetables you feel like. The addition of curry powder to this dish not only brings a new flavour to it, but it coats the noodles and gives a great texture to every bite.

main-meals
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Chicken Lahori

July 01

Chicken Lahori is a very colourful dish from Pakistan, which is not at all hot but extremely full of flavour. It should marinade in its topping for about an hour before cooking and should not be cooked ahead of time. This can also be made with chicken joints and the marinade equally divided. It is best to buy either breast or thigh joints for this method, but keep cooking time to 90 minutes. Recipe from The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora Fitzgibbon.

main-meals

Dahl with Spinach and Tomatoes

January 07

Method

Ingredients

You'll Need

If you liked this

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