Easy Indian Dal + my football-watching dog

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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.

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. 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?

Tagged as: indian, lentils, recipes, vegetarian