Delicious Dahl

Recipe by Ella Blackwell

This delicious dahl makes you want seconds...it's super tasty, fresh and the mild flavours are family friendly. The Dahl itself doesn't take long to make, it's made in two parts and then combined. 

We serve it with brown rice, home-made Chapatis, yogurt and pickles. The kids like to tear up their chapatis to dip in the Dahl. Ralph is crazy about Lime Pickle, and piles it on, whilst Kitty douses her meal in yogurt.

Make it hot!! Add fresh chopped chilli individually depending on how you love your spice...

Ingredients

1 Cup Brown Basmati Rice

1 Cup Brown Spelt Flour (plus extra for rolling out)

1/2 tsp dried yeast

1 Bunch Coriander

Yogurt (coconut or dairy)

5 Garlic Cloves (2 for the chapatis)1

1 Onion

1 Large Tomato

2" Thumb Ginger

3/4 Curry Leaves-dried or fresh

1 tsp Cumin

2 tsp Curry Powder

Large handful dried coconut strips

Large Bag Spinach Leaf

1 Tin Coconut Milk

1/2 Cup Lentils

Fresh Chilli to taste

Lime PickleMango Chutney

Method

1. Add the rice to a pre-heated saucepan with a dash of oil, stir (temp high) for 30 seconds to coat the rice. Add 2 cups of water, put the lid on and let the rice simmer on low for 35-40 mins. You do-not need to stir. Check on the rice; once the water has gone, it’s ready.

2. In a large open bowl combine the flour, yeast, 2 cloves of grated garlic, 2 tbs yogurt, a large handful of chopped coriander, a large pinch of salt and a glug of olive or coconut oil. Add warm water until you can kneed the ingredients to a rough sticky dough ball. This is, of course, the bit my kids love. Put the dough aside for cooking later.

3. Finely chop the onion and tomato, grate the garlic (3 cloves) and ginger and fry in a frying pan with a little oil, add the curry leaves, cumin and curry powder. Stir and cook for 5 mins, it should soften and create a lovely mush. Stir in the washed spinach, you may have to do this a handful at a time. Take off the heat once the spinach has wilted and the ingredients are combined

4. In a medium sized pan warm up the coconut milk and 400ml water with the lentils and 2 large handfuls of chopped coriander. Simmer on low, with a lid, for 15 mins. Once the lentils have softened add the spinach-mix, stir in and cook on low for a further 5 mins. The Dahl should keep its heat whilst you cook the Chapatis.

5. Divide the dough into four, roll out in circles to about 5mm using a well floured surface. Cook in a well oiled, hot non-stick pan for 4-5 mins on each side. You'll notice the colour of the dough change when they're cooked, turn to avoid burning.
   

   Serve the rice, Dahl and Chapati with Lime Pickle, Mango Chutney, yogurt and fresh chilli. Enjoy this super tasty meal...it's a once-a-week staple for us.
   

Ella lives in Sussex with her husband and two young kids. After 10 years as a fashion designer she changed her lifestyle to bring up the children. She has a small start-up company with a friend selling children’s Teepees. Currently they’re building a house from scratch, grand designs style. Being a creative person; producing healthy family meals is simply an extension of this. There are, of course some creative culinary disasters along the way...

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