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Darlin' Daal

If you're trying to move towards eating more plant-based meals, then this recipe is for you!  This daal is so tasty and satisfying you won't even remember what meat is!  Even my protein-craving husband didn't bat an eye.  Fancy some Daal darling?    

This recipe comes from the wonderful Jamie Oliver (check out his TED talk here).  He has a smashing book called Jamie's 15 min meals which I can't recommend highly enough.  It has become a cookbook I reference weekly.  Of course it never takes me 15 mins, but anything that tastes this good, is packed full of fresh ingredients and can be whipped up in under 30 mins is good enough for me!

You will need
(The below looks complicated, but it's really straight forward I promise!)
(Also life is much easier with a food processor when it comes to Jamie Oliver.  And cooking in general for that matter, so I really recommend getting one if you don't already!) 

Daal 
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
1-2 fresh chillies
1 red pepper
1 big bunch of fresh coriander 
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 handful of fresh curry leaves
1 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp of fenugreek seeds
2 tsp of mustard seeds
300g of dried red split lentils
1 x 400g tin of light coconut milk
200g spinach (actually you can use any green leafy veg here including kale or silverbeet/swiss chard)

Salad
500g ripe cherry tomatoes
1 lemon
1 tsp chilli powder
2 cloves of garlic

To serve
2 naan breads (or pitta bread, chapati, or whatever you have to hand)
natural yoghurt

Here's how

Heat your oven on to 130C. 
In the food processor add the peeled and halved onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, deseeded pepper, stalks from the coriander (not to worry if some leaves end up in there also!) and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Blitz until fine. 
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a casserole pan with the curry leaves, turmeric, fenugreek seeds and half the mustard seeds, stir well.
Add the blitzed veg and fry for a couple of minutes before adding the lentils, 700ml boiling water and the coconut milk.  Cover with a lid and bring to the boil, stirring regularly.

Pop the naan breads in the oven.
Halve the cherry tomatoes and finely chop half the lemon (including the rind).
In a frying pan over a low heat, put 1 tablespoon of oil, the chilli powder, chopped lemon and remaining mustard seeds.
If you have a garlic crusher use it, otherwise chop up the garlic really really small, and add to the frying pan along with the remaining lemon juice and the tomatoes.  Toss for 30 seconds, then season to taste.

Fold the spinach through the daal (if using kale maybe leave it there for a minute or two to cook through), remove the naans from the oven, serve everything at the table along with the yoghurt.  Sprinkle the coriander leaves on top to finish.

Serves 4 - if you have leftovers the next day you will find it tastes even better!

Enjoy!

Return to Recipes for Buffoons for more simple, tasty inspiration!