From start to finish, this one takes about thirty minutes. This high protein dish has a fragrant flavor blend of garlic, onions, and cumin.

• Plant-Based Option (look for *PB in the recipe)
  

Ingredients

Dhal:
1 cup orange lentils, rinsed (look for Masoor dhal at your Indian grocer)
4 cups water
1 tsp cumin seeds, slightly crushed
4-6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tomato, finely chopped, optional
1/4 cup chopped cilantro,
1 Tbsp oil (*PB—omit this)
salt to taste

Tempering:
1/3 cup oil (*PB—use 1 tsp of cold-pressed extra extra virgin oil or omit this tempering step altogether–the dhal is tasty even without the tempering)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
6-8 curry leaves, optional
fresh green chillies or dry red chillies, as needed
1 cup onions, finely chopped
additional garlic, as needed, optional
1/4-1/2 cup, chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp butter or ghee, optional (*PB—omit this)

Directions

Cook the first list of ingredients together, adding more water as needed to retain a soupy consistency. While the lentils are cooking, begin the tempering process with the second list of ingredients:

Heat the oil. Add mustard seeds. When the seeds sputter, add fenugreek, cumin, curry leaves, and chillies. When chillies begin to change color (green ones get lighter, red ones get slightly brown), add onions. When onions are slightly brown, add garlic and cilantro (save a little for garnishing). When onions are a nice brown (but not so dark that they taste burnt), add ghee/butter. Pour tempering into dhal.

Serve with rice.

Feature image by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash