Our Daily Dal

We tend to leave our favorite South Asian treats as just that — treats. Daily consumption of deep fried samosas and pakoras, unlimited corn cutlets, naan, puris and other scrumptious, spicy, savory chaat (snacks) would go straight to belly and bum, so we’ve been avoiding Indian food and other restaurants, including the ubiquitous “takeaway” — quite a feat in the UK — and mostly eating at home. Avoiding the deep fried South Asian foods, though, doesn’t meant that we eschew those tasty flavors altogether. Oh, no, not us. Not ‘The Bean People,’ who have that twenty-five pound sack of pintos in the corner. No, we can’t do without our dal.

It was somewhat tricky to find dal at first — in the UK they are called by the old-fashioned named ‘pulses,’ and though that is indeed what they are, we looked for dal or lentils under the heading of ‘beans’ and were directed to …hundreds of the canned variety. After we got that sorted, we were mostly absorbed in the task of selecting which variety to purchase.

Lentils or lenticchie as the Italians refer to them, or the varieties known as dal are — amazing. Lentils first came to the U.S. in 1916, through the efforts of a Russian German minister, who brought them from his homeland and planted them in Farmington, Washington (This according to the United States Dry Pea & Lentil Council [and who knew we had one of those?!]), and planted a single acre of them. They were eagerly purchased by farmers who were Seventh-day Adventists — a religious denomination which is largely vegetarian, so of course they were in the market for sources of protein. (Did you know there were vegetarians that long ago?)

So, there’s our introduction to this humble food which has, in 100 grams, as much protein as 134 g. of beef – without the cholesterol or saturated fat. Of dry beans, the lentil is second only to the soybean in protein content. One cup of boiled brown lentils provides 38 mg. calcium, 356 mg. phosphorus, 72 mg. magnesium, 360 mcg folic acid (90% RDA!), 6.6 mg. iron, 731 mg. potassium, and a full 10 grams dietary fiber. (Dal are skinned and thus lower in fiber than other varieties. )

Considering that peoples of Near East, European, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean lands have all used lentils to enrich their diet, we know there must be some truly tasty recipes out there (just think of poor Esau!), and the idea that it was called “the poor man’s meat” in the 19th century just shows you what they knew. Dal is good stuff!

Incidentally, dal (or dhaal = dhal = dhall = daal= same thing) is the term for lentils which have been skinned or split. They cook in only fifteen to twenty minutes, and tend not to keep their shape. Brown, black and green lentils apparently work well in salads, since they don’t fall apart. For non-skinned lentils, soak for an hour, then cook for 12 to 15 minutes. The basic rule of thumb á la St. Julia (Child) is 1 cup dry lentils (or 6 ounces) makes 3 cups cooked; cook uncovered in 4 cups of water for best results.

The nicest thing about lentils is that there are myriad varieties. Don’t like traditional brown lentils? Fine. Try red or pink. Yellow. Or the green French ones. Or black. They’re plentiful and common and they’re as quick cooking as a pot of rice to go with them.

We bring about three cups of water and a cup of split red lentils to a boil for twenty minutes along with one chopped onion, and a cup of diced carrots as well as 1 tsp. turmeric powder, curry powder, ginger, and 2 tsp. cumin, along with red pepper flakes to taste. We sometimes add 1/2 c. of coconut cream to give it a bit of fat (because lentils do need a tiny bit of fat to taste their best. You may want to add a teaspoon of olive oil.).

Another variation is to add chopped tomatoes, green chilies, chili powder and a 1/2 tsp. of mustard seeds to brown lentils, as tomatoes and cumin work well together too. Please note that salt is not added; even using dal with no skin to toughen it’s not a good habit to get into adding salt to beans!

Simply serve your dal with rice or naan or couscous or pita bread… and enjoy.

How do you like your lentils?

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