Spinach and Coconut Lentil Dahl
Welcome to my first ever blog post – eek!
I really wasn’t sure where to start and what recipe I’d like to start off with. I was thinking about setting the tone for the blog going forward by cooking up something with lot of fancy ingredients or a really out there recipe with complex flavours and then I thought, nope, that’s not me.
I thought I’d start at the beginning and so the first few recipes on this blog will be some of my first recipes I ever experimented with. Recipes that sparked my love of plant-based cooking.
I started my plant-based journey in 2013, about 18 months before I moved out to live in London for University. In my first year I lived in some horribly cramped halls with a shared kitchen. There seemed to be this unspoken rule that only one person could use the tiny kitchen at a time so cooking was all about speed and limited mess, and when I mean speed I mean like 10 minutes or you would have your flat mates hovering at the door impatiently. So, first year was all about the pesto pasta. Still one of my favourite meals, but not every night!
In second year, I moved into a new house with a big kitchen with my best friend, Lilla. This is where my love of cooking really kicked in. For me, preparing a meal for somebody else is the most enjoyment I can get from food. I love plating up, serving and watching people faces as they tuck in. I think the eating part, myself, is secondary to the pleasure I get from the ritual of the preparation and the sharing between friends and family. During University and still now, cooking is a way for me to slow down and be in the present moment.
Living with Lilla gave me a drive to cook more. Back then she was a rubbish eater. She seemed to eat just because she had to not because she enjoyed it, so the quicker the better. She was also fearless in the kitchen and so she created some crazy dishes out of things she just fancied. One of my favourite lunches I ever saw Lilla make was a toasted pitta with mayo and black olives from a jar – and that’s it!
I have never had much desire to just cook for myself (and still don’t) and so Lilla and I eating dinner together became a daily occurrence. Now Lilla lives back in Brighton and I live in Liverpool, 224 miles apart, so I will treasure these special meal-time moments for a long time to come.
This Spinach and Coconut Lentil Dahl is one of my go to recipes and is really quick to make! I eat Dahl pretty much all year round. I think it is such a versatile basic that can be eaten with rice in a bowl curled up on the couch in the winter or can be eaten in the sunshine with a fresh cucumber and mint salad (recipe coming soon!)
This is a recipe that I have perfected over time and experimented with flavours. In between my second and third year of University Lilla and I took off in my LDV campervan and travelled around France and Spain and then lived in Spain for 9 months. During our travels this Dahl was a campervan tea-time staple. Only two pots required and very few ingredients. The great thing about this Dahl is once you have the basics covered you can add whatever you like to suit your tastes. I have made this recipe more recently with roasted aubergines instead of spinach.
During this time in lockdown, this recipe is a great one as it uses mainly pantry items. If ever I have not been shopping and we hardly have anything in, I can almost always muster up a Dahl variation of some sorts.
Spinach and Coconut Lentil Dahl
Serves 6, 30 mins
Batch Cookable, Freezeable
Ingredients:
3 cup red lentils
2 knobs vegan butter
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
1 white onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
2 fresh green chillies, finely sliced (remove seeds if you want to keep the heat down)
4 tomatoes
1 can of coconut milk
200g spinach
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 lime
To serve:
Toasted pumpkin seeds
Fresh coriander
Sweetcorn bread (recipe coming soon)
Pickled onions (recipe coming soon)
Preparation:
Firstly, place your lentils into a pan and cover with water. You need just enough water to come to about 2-3cm above the lentils.
Bring the lentils to the boil, add half the butter and turmeric, then cover and allow to simmer.
Meanwhile in a dry saute pan, gently toast cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and black onion seeds.
Be careful not to burn them, just toast for about 2 minutes until the seeds start to give off a fragrant smell, then remove and set aside.In the same pan add the other half of the butter and gently fry the garlic, onion, chillies and ginger.
Once the onion is soft and translucent, add the tomatoes. Cook on a high heat until any water from the tomatoes has reduced and you are left with a paste consistency.
Now add toasted seeds and remaining spices. Cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat and then add coconut milk.
Simmer of a low heat until lentils are ready.
Give your lentils a good stir, they shouldn’t be too runny. They should be more like a thick porridge consistency. If they’re too thick, feel free to add a little more water whilst they’re cooking. You’d be surprised how quickly they can thicken up.
Once your lentils are cooked, pour them into your saute pan with your coconut aromatic mixture.
On a low heat, add spinach until it is wilted and stir through your Dahl.
Taste and add the juice of 1 lime and salt to taste.
Serve and top with fresh coriander and toasted pumpkin seeds.
As I said earlier this is such a versatile recipe so how you serve it is totally up to you however I do have a few suggestions. Serve with brown rice, on top of a roasted sweet potato. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Share you pictures with me on Instagram - @wildrootkitchen - I’d love to see what you make.