Anna Jones’s Black Dahl

  • Difficulty level : Easy
  • Type : Dinner

Anna Jones puts vegetables and pulses at the heart of her recipes and this lovely, vegan dahl dish requires little prep on your part, and makes a comforting bowl of food. Finish with a little yoghurt to dress, a handful of coarsely chopped coriander and a soft, fluffy naan or chapatti for dipping. Simply delicious.

Ingredients

  • 200g whole dried black lentils (also called urad dhal or black gram) 
  • 100g dried kidney beans 
  • A portion groundnut or coconut oil or ghee  for frying
  • 2 onions peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds 
  • 2 cardamom pods split
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric 
  • 1/2 tsp red chilli powder 
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds 
  • 3 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
  • a thumb-size piece fresh ginger peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée 
  • 2 tomatoes  finely chopped
  • or 200g tin of chopped tomatoes 
  • a small bunch  fresh coriander leaves picked and roughly chopped

Method

  1. First soak your lentils and beans in a deep bowl of cold water ─ overnight is ideal but a few hours will do.
  2. Next, heat a little oil in a large pan and gently fry the onions for 10─15 minutes, until sweet, soft and lightly browned. Add the cumin seeds, cardamom pods, turmeric, chilli powder, fennel seeds, garlic, ginger and tomato purée and stir for a couple of minutes.
  3. Drain the lentils and beans and add to the pan with the chopped tomatoes and 2 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a fairly gentle simmer, put the lid on and cook for 2─2 1/2 hours, until the lentils and beans are cooked and the liquor is thick, dark and deeply flavoured. Stir the dhal from time to time while it cooks, and top up with a little hot water from the kettle if it looks too dry.
  4. Once the lentils and beans are cooked through, mash about half of them to a paste, using a potato masher in the pan, then stir together to make the dhal super creamy.
  5. Scoop the dhal into bowls and finish with a little yoghurt, if you like, and a good pile of chopped coriander. Serve warm, with soft, fluffy naans or chapattis.

By | 12 April 2018