Easy Indian Dal + my football-watching dog

by Teri on September 2, 2010

Happy Thursday! Thank you all SO MUCH for buzzing my post!  I really do appreciate you taking the time to vote for me. You’re the best!

Every once in a while I’ll get a strong craving for Indian food. And it’s so easy to create a great Indian meal at home…except the naan. Sadly, I haven’t been able to master naan at home. Which, let’s be honest, is kind of the best part of an Indian meal.

Anyway, I threw this together one night when I had a lot of veggies to use up and a giant bag of chana dal. I bought the bag of chana dal (those little yellow, lentil looking things) at a local Indian grocery store. Chana dal is just a type of bean that is split in half…it’s from the same family as a chickpea/garbanzo beans. If you can’t find chana dal, lentils would work just as well in this dish.

DSC_1154

Easy Indian Dal
  • 1 t olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 gloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium chili (I used a serrano), seeds/ribs removed and finely diced
  • 1 small eggplant
  • 8 okra pieces
  • 1 small rutabaga (or sweet potato)
  • 1/2 c. chana dal (dry)
  • 2 c. vegetable broth
  • 1/2 t curry powder
  • 1 t garam masala
  • 1 t cumin
  • salt to taste
  1. Chop the eggplant, okra and rutabaga into bite-sized pieces.
  2. Rinse the dal and pick out any funky looking pieces.
  3. In a deep saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.
  4. Add the onion, garlic, and chili to the pan and saute until the onion is translucent.
  5. Add the curry, garam masala and cumin and continue to saute for 2-4 more minutes, until very fragrant.
  6. Pour in the vegetable broth and add the okra, eggplant, rutabaga, and chana dal. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
  7. Simmer over low until the dal is tender, around 45-60 minutes and the broth has thickened and reduced.
  8. Add salt to taste and serve over brown rice.
Notes:
  • You could throw in any root vegetables/squash that you have on hand.
  • If I used the same veggies again, I would put the eggplant in towards the end of cooking so it didn’t get so mushy.
  • The okra was good the first day, but it made the leftovers have this weird texture…like goopy and slimy.
  • This is a very warm and sweetly spiced dish. If you want a little more heat, use a hotter chili or add cayenne pepper.
  • I cooked my brown rice with a little coconut oil (about 1 t). I don’t remember which blogger gave me that idea – sorry! Raise your hand if it was you! The flavor was subtle, but excellent with this dish.

By the way, my dog is ridiculous. Seriously, she put herself in this position and has stayed like that for over 30 minutes watching college football (yay!!!!) with Rob.DSC_1201 Does your dog sit like a slut human? Is this normal???

What’s your favorite Indian dish? I love chicken tikka masala and palak paneer. And chana masala. Ok, I kind of like them all.

Or are you an Indian food virgin?

{ 20 comments }

Happy September! Reasons why I love September:

  • It’s my birthday month. I’m turning 26 in 8 days. That feels like a good, solid age. A very adult age, but solid. I’m quite excited. :)
  • It’s back to school month. And every September, I wish I were going back to school so I could buy new pens and notebooks.
  • College football starts!
  • I can justify eating soup on a regular basis. Like I did tonight. Even though it’s 95 degrees outside.
  • And the reasons that are a given, i.e. fall colors, cozy evenings, cool weather, hoodies, pumpkin everything! :)

You guys correctly guessed the mystery dish from The Weekender. Spaghetti squash!DSC_1176 My dad always grew spaghetti squash in his (massive) garden (along with about 6 rows of habanero peppers…yes, really) so I ate it quite a bit growing up. I love it. I know a lot of people top it with marinara sauce. But I like it just with a little butter and salt and pepper. Divine.DSC_1186

It’s super easy to prepare. You can bake it in the oven, or even in the microwave, which is how I usually do it. Just stab it a few times and microwave on high for 5-10 minutes until it’s kind of squishy. (Rotate it every few minutes.) Then let it cool down a bit, slice, scoop out the seeds and scoop out all the strands.

Alright, so you know my Alaska Seafood post I did through Foodbuzz? (23 of 28)

Foodbuzz is letting the Foodbuzz Community vote on posts from the 12 bloggers who received seafood and the two bloggers with the most votes will get airfare and accommodations to the Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco this November!

So, I NEED YOUR HELP!! I would love to go to the Foodbuzz Festival to get to meet all you lovely bloggers in person! So, please please please vote for my post! If you vote for me and I win, I promise to upgrade all the machines in your gym, stock the vending machines with Larabars and Kombucha, and all your wildest dreams will come true. ;)

 

Just click on this link  and click “buzz it!” at the top of the page. (You’ll have to be logged into Foodbuzz.)

If you don’t have a Foodbuzz account, I would be forever grateful if you’d sign up for one (they won’t send you junk email) and vote for me.

What age feels officially adult to you? I think 26 is my magic number. :)

Did you buzz my post? Pretty and please? Thank you, you’re the best.

{ 47 comments }

Tunes for Tuesday

August 31, 2010

Good morning! Guess who was in bed at 7:50 with the lights out at 8:30? Oh, that would be me. I was so exhausted last night. After all that sleep, I thought I’d rock Body Pump this morning but it was still tough. It’s been a while since I posted some music and this is [...]

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August 28, 2010

Happy Saturday! It’s been a productive one for me so far. Body Pump. Then Body Flow. Then sitting on the couch whimpering while my biceps trembled. Then cleaning. Then Costco. Then feeling broke. Now blogging. There were SO many great reads this week. Enjoy! The Weekender How much digital downtime do you get? After this [...]

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Vibrams Follow-up + another picture of my brothers :)

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I love the responses I’ve been getting about running in Vibrams. And I think the majority ruled that it’s pronounced “VIE-brams” not “VEE-brams.” So, to address some questions I’ve received about Vibrams: I am a pronator and have always run in stability shoes. Asics, to be precise. The Asics 2100 series to be very precise, [...]

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Fresh Alaskan Seafood: Don’t Be a Hater

August 23, 2010

Have I ever told you guys that I have FIVE older brothers? No? It’s true. When each of my brothers and I turned 21, my dad took us on a fishing trip to Alaska. In 2005, it was my turn to go to Alaska with my dad. Just me and him. Us and the boat. [...]

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