Spring Salad: Warm Lentil Salad with Baby Spinach Shoots

1.  Forsythia on Hudson River 2.  Warm Lentil Salad with Baby Spinach

In New York City, the Forsythia is in bloom, the trees are sprouting and the first of the greens are available at the farmer's market.  I am craving some lentils with the baby spinach shoots I bought at today's market.  Here is the perfect recipe for a cool, windy spring day.

Warm Lentil Salad on a Bed of Baby Spinach Shoots:

Ingredients:

1 cup dried French green (Le Puy) lentils, washed and picked over

1/2 cup crimini  mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, finely sliced

1/4 cup olives, chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 tablespoons olive oil

Lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Soak, cook and drain your lentils.  Set aside.

2.  In a skillet, saute your onions, mushrooms, and cumin powder until brown.

3.  Then add your lentils, sun dried tomatoes, lemon zest, parsley, olives, and salt and pepper to the sauteed mixture and toss.

3.  Dress with a little squeezed lemon and olive oil.

4.  Serve on a bed of baby greens.

Tarka Dal Recipe

Recipe for Tarka Dal:

Variety of Dals at Market in Old Delhi  "Khari Baoli"

Red Lentils/Dal, Chana Beans/Dal, Mong Beans/Dal from Patels

Combining your lentils, beans and/or split peas can give your dal a special flavor.

List of Ingredients for the Dal:

1/3 cup red lentils (masoor dal)

1/3 cup split garbanzo bean (chana dal)

1/3 cup Split yellow mung beans (mong dal)

3 cups of water

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons turmeric

List of Ingredients for the Massala mixture:

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 chillies, roughly chopped
3 cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon grated ginger or ginger paste

1 teaspoon cardamom seeds, roasted 

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium onion
1/3 cup crushed tomatoes (fresh in season or canned)

3 tablespoons oil

List of Ingredients for the Tarka (Tempered Spices):

1 small onion,

1-2 cloves garlic

4 chilies, fresh or dried

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds, crushed

2 tablespoons coconut, grated
1 teaspoon brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter

Step # 1:  Prepare your legumes by soaking them in water for a couple of hours and then cooking them in a pressure cooker with water, turmeric and salt.   Cook on high heat until the pressure cooker whistles, then cook for 12 minutes on low heat.  (You can use a pot, but cooking time increases to an hour or so). After 12 minutes, turn off your stove and let your dal mixture sit in the covered pressure cooker for 30 minutes.  Your dal will have a pureed consistency.  You might want to add a little water if it becomes too thick.

Step #2:  In a skillet, prepare your massala mixture by tempering the onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, chillies and cardamom seeds in oil.  Cook these ingredients until the oil starts to separate from this spice mixture.  Add the tomatoes and coriander then cook and toss until ingredients looks like a tomato paste.   Add a little of the lentil water at the end to thin out the mixture to your desired consistency. 

Adding Tomatoes to the Massala

Mixing Together Tomatoes and Coriander

Mixing Together All Massala Ingredients so Flavors Merge Together

Step #3:  Open up the pressure cooker and add your massala to the dal mixture, let simmer for around 30 minutes or so in the uncovered pressure cooker.  Add some water to get the mixture to your desired consistency and then stir every 5 minutes.

Step #4:  This final step in preparing the tarka right before your ready to serve.  Add chillies cumin, cardamom, brown sugar and salt into the hot skillet coated with the bubbling butter or gee. Then add finely chopped onion and garlic while tossing ingredients until lightly brown on high heat.  When the spices start crackling and an amazing aroma fills the air, stir in the grated coconut then turn off the heat.

Step #5:  Place the dal in a serving bowl, garnish with the sizzling hot tarka and some chopped coriander.  Your guests will be very impressed. They might even ask you for this recipe.

Dal

Cold Winter's day

A bowl of dal is a comfort food.  It brings warmth to a cold day, after a snowstorm, in NYC.   My friends are always asking me for this mouth-watering recipe.

A Delicious and Comforting Bowl of Dal

Dal is a split pea, lentil or bean dish cooked in a massala “spice” mixture, which creates an aromatic entre full of complex and addicting flavors.  It took me 3 trips to India to figure out how to make this special dish.   The key to making a basic North Indian dal is in how you layer spices and other ingredients.  The taste of one of my favorite dals, Tarka dal, is particularly dependent on how you layer.

Close-up of Tarka "Tempering Mixture" on Dal

The tarka is a garnish made by tempering your favorite spices in a skillet smoldering with piping hot butter or ghee.

 "Tempering" is a process where your add your favorite spices, herbs and other flavors ,one at a time, to smoking hot oil, butter, or ghee.  The oil will extract and enhance all of the sharp, spicy and sweet flavors of your selected ingredients.

    

Tarka:  Spices, Herbs, Onions Being Flash Cooked in Butter