South Indian Spicy Lentil Stew Recipes

SPICY VEGAN LENTIL DAHL

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a 3-quart stockpot or other medium-sized soup pot, heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until the chopped onion is translucent, about 6 minutes.
• Stirring constantly, add the water or broth, lentils, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt. Bring to a low boil, then turn down the heat to low, cover and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are very tender.
• Stir in the tomato paste until well combined. Cook several minutes more, or until the soup is at the desired temperature and consistency, adding more water to the dahl if needed.
• Garnish with a dollop of dairy-free soy yogurt if desired. Serve hot and enjoy.

SOUTH INDIAN PALAK DAL- SPINACH & LENTILS STEW

Steps:

• Make sure you have these ready before you start cooking: 1. Seasoning (dry red chili, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chili pepper and urad dal) 2. Tamarind, salt, turmeric, jaggery, kootu podi (optional) 3. Garlic and onion 4. Pressure cooked dal and tomato 5. Fine cut spinach and cilantro.
• Add tamarind, salt, jaggery to pressure cooked dal and mix well.
• Set IP to 'saute' mode, heat oil. Add garlic, onion, saute for a couple of minutes. And seasoning ingredients. Cook for a minute.
• Add turmeric, dal, and cook for a minute. Now add kootu podi and mix well.
• Add cilantro and spinach, mix well and turn IP off. By adding greens in the end and not cooking them much, helps retain most of their nutrients.
• Transfer to serving bowl. Serve hot.

SAMBAR (SPICY LENTIL AND VEGETABLE STEW)

Steps:

• Combine water, toor dal, onion, tomato, pumpkin, okra, peas, and radishes in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook until dal, pumpkin, and radishes start to soften, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Heat oil in a small pan over medium heat and add mustard seeds. Stir in garlic, red peppers, curry leaves, and sambar powder. Cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
• Stir seasoned oil mixture into the stew and cook until flavors combine, 25 to 30 minutes more. Stir in tamarind, salt, and red chile powder.

SPICY LENTIL STEW

Steps:

• Pick over lentils. In a bowl soak lentils in water to cover 1 hour. Wrap cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods in a small square of cheesecloth and with kitchen string tie into a bundle. Separately chop onions and tomatoes. Wearing rubber gloves, seed and devein chile and finely chop.
• In a 4-quart kettle cook onions in oil with cheesecloth bundle over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened. Stir in tomatoes, chile, garlic, masala, cumin, coriander seeds, and turmeric and simmer 10 minutes.
• Drain lentils in a sieve and add to onion mixture with 4 cups water. Simmer mixture, uncovered, adding more water if necessary to keep ingredients just covered with liquid, until lentils are very soft, about 40 minutes.
• Cut zucchini into 1/8-inch-thick rounds. Discard cheesecloth bundle and arrange zucchini in an even layer on top of curry. Cook curry, covered, until zucchini is tender about 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle curry with cilantro and serve over rice.
• *Available at East Indian markets and some specialty food shops.

SOUTH INDIAN SPICY LENTIL STEW

Steps:

• In a large saucepan bring the water to a boil. Add the dahl, tomatoes, okra, carrots, potatoes, tumeric, salt and tamarind paste or lemon juice. Stir and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cook until the dahl is tender--approximately 30 minutes; add more water if necessary.
• Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet, heat the oil and lightly fry the ground cilantro and cumin over a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds, chile and curry leaves and fry for 2 minutes, covering the skillet as the seeds pop. Add the fried spices to the cooked dahl and vegetables. Add the sambhar masala and mix well.
• The stew can be prepared up to 2 hours in advance.