How to make dal, dahl, daal in 30 mins?

Are you curious to know how to make dal, dahl, dalh or daal? There are so many different spellings and versions. This is my quick and simple, homemade, green lentil dal with coconut milk. Great for a Meatless Monday dinner or if you want a healthy dinner option. I always find dal to be a real comfort food and easy on the digestion. I have made this version vegan friendly with lots of options to swap the ingredients to make it your own. The recipe has been tweaked to suit our tastes buds and is a little different to the traditional, Indian style version. This serves two on it's own with rice, or four if you are having it as a side with other curries.

Ingredients

• 400g tinned green lentils (or red)
• 250g coconut cream (or use the cream only part of a 400g tin of coconut milk)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or rice bran oil, or your favourite oil)
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 1 small onion (or 3 lengths of green onions sliced)
• 1 vegetable stock cube (crushed)
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon (about 1 half)
• small piece of fresh ginger
• small bunch of coriander (optional)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)
• 2 chopped tomatoes (optional)
• handful of fresh or frozen spinach (optional)
• 1 small chopped courgette (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (optional)
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (optional)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam marsala
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes

Method

1. In a large pot or deep frypan, lightly fry the onions until soft on a low heat.
2. Add crushed garlic and cook for a minute.
3. Lightly fry the seeds for a few minutes, then add all spices (except for the chilli flakes and fresh coriander)
4. Add grated ginger(a microplane is a must have to make this job easy), crush the vegetable stock cube, then the coconut cream and drained lentils rinsed in cold water.
5. Simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Now add the maple syrup, lemon juice, chilli flakes and fresh coriander. (add any other vegetables at this stage).
7. Simmer for another 10 minutes before serving.
8. Serve with rice or quinoa.