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  • Makes about 5 cups
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This red lentil recipe has a very traditional texture, where the lentils are mushy but still intact. For a soupier texture, blend the lentils in a blender before adding the lemon juice and cilantro. This is great served as-is, or you can use it as the base for a variety of vegan soups. Just add any vegetables, throw in some leftover cooked grains like quinoa, brown rice, millet, or pasta, and you’ll have a hearty one-dish meal.

From The Forks Over Knives Plan

By Darshana Thacker Wendel,

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups red lentils, rinsed and soaked
  • 1½ teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder

  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • Sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
  • Steamed rice or whole-grain bread, for serving

Instructions

  1. Place the lentils in a saucepan and add 4 cups of water.
  2. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the ginger.
  3. Cover the pan and simmer until the lentils are soft and have turned yellow, 15 to 20 minutes.
  4. Add the coriander, onion powder, turmeric, cumin, garlic powder, salt to taste, and 1 cup water if the dal is very thick. Simmer for about 10 minutes more to blend the flavors.
  5. Stir in the lemon juice and cilantro. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve hot, with rice or bread.
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Davee Kaplan1 year ago
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Just made this Dal. It was delicious and satisfying. It was full bodied, hearty, and aromatic. I loved the cilantro and lime which balanced the heartiness with brightness. Eating this Dal for the first time was like finding a new comfort food. I served mine over brown rice. I will definitely make this again.

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Freezing Dal:
This freezes well, so feel free to also make a double batch of the recipe and freeze it in smaller containers. Then, whenever you have some leftover grains and a few wilting vegetables in your crisper drawer, defrost one of your frozen containers of dal and heat it up with your leftovers. Your freestyle red lentil dal meal will be ready in minutes!

Rinsing Grains and Legumes and Soaking Lentils:
When dried ingredients such as rice and lentils come in sealed bags, it’s easy to forget that they’re not that different from fresh vegetables and need to be treated similarly. Place whatever you’re rinsing in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Swish it around a few times; the water will often turn creamy white. Drain the water, add fresh water, and repeat 3 or 4 times, or until the water runs clear even after you swish it around. Drain thoroughly before cooking as instructed.

Soaking the lentils for an hour prior to cooking them will reduce the cooking time in most recipes by 10 to 15 minutes. After soaking, drain them thoroughly and proceed as directed in the recipe, adjusting the cooking time as necessary.

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about the author

Darshana Thacker Wendel

Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.

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