Golden Lentil Dal with Ginger & Orange





The weather in Vancouver has been glorious for the past week or so. Lots of sunshine and gorgeous fall colours. Vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges fill every street and sidewalk and I've become clearly smitten with autumn. So why leave all that colour outside? Today's meal is full bright oranges and reds – and it's tasty and hearty enough to help ward off the chill.





Red lentils are perfect for this dish. Not only is their colour so pretty, but they cook incredibly quickly. They don't retain much of their shape once cooked, but in a dish like this soupy/stewy dal, it's a perfect texture.


The ingredient list looks long, but it's a simple dish to make but it doesn't sacrifice ease for flavour. Ginger makes up a large component, but if you're not sure about adding so much, feel free to use as little as you like. I use a curry paste here, but if you don't have any available, please use your favorite curry powder or garam masala blend.


If the dal looks dry or if you want to create more of a soup, add in more water or vegetable stock. I left the texture here to be versatile - it can be eaten as a soup or stew and is perfect served over rice or alongside some naan bread.

Golden Lentil Dal with Ginger & Orange
1 tablespoon coconut or canola oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2" knob of ginger, grated or finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large cloves, garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
2 tablespoons curry paste (I used Patak's Jalfrezi curry paste)
large pinch of cinnamon
1 cup red lentils, rinsed & picked over
4 cups veggie stock or water
a couple of squirts of sriracha sauce (or your favorite hot sauce)
1 tablespoon honey
juice & zest of 1 orange
greek yogurt (optional)

In a large pot, heat up oil over medium heat and add in onion, celery, carrot, ginger and salt until fragrant - about 5 minutes. Add in garlic, tomato, cinnamon and curry paste and stir until combined. Add in the lentils along with vegetable stock.

Cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes over medium heat. Stir in the honey and hot sauce and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Just before serving pour in orange juice and zest and stir to combine.

Serve over rice or alongside your favorite bread. Add a dollop of greek yogurt to serve.

Jan Halvarson

4 comments:

Karen L R said...

I've bookmarked this and look forward to cooking it up soon! Tonight, I'm making quinoa stuffed acorn squash, from whole living magazine. Love this time of year!

molly lubs tompkins said...

this looks fabulous. can't wait to try it out this fall. so healthy too!

Joanne said...

One of my long-time favourite dahl recipes is from your blog. The one with apples in it. I make it all the time. It's delicious and easy and inexpensive. I'm going to try this recipe out next time. Looks and sounds delicious!

Unknown said...

I just had to post all these years later to say that this is permanently bookmarked in my collection of online favourite recipes and i keep going back to it. Again, and again, and again. Utterly delicious. 5 stars and all that. Thank you for sharing! x