Gently spiced red lentils, with fresh spinach to help boost your winter-wellness.
Being based in Cheshire, one of my favourite co-operatives is Unicorn Grocery in Chorlton, Manchester. I’d like to credit them with this recipe, as they happily share their deli version of tarka dahl on their website. This is a slight variation, with added spinach and a slightly different spice blend – which are all very easy to pick up in any supermarket or even a well-stocked corner shop.
Once you have the spinach and onion, all the other ingredients are from your cupboard, so it’s a great supper for one of those nights when the fridge looks empty. This re-heats brilliantly, and can be taken into work in a hot flask too. Great served with rice or poppadoms (as always, check the ingredients – most are allergy-free).
This recipe doesn’t just taste great, it’s full of nutritional goodness – iron in the lentils and spinach, lots of dietary fibre, anti-inflammatory curcumin compounds from the tumeric; antibiotic properties of the garlic and ginger and antiviral properties of coconut oil make this a fabulous winter-wellness dish!
tarka dahl
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| Prep Time5minutes |
| Cook Time20minutes |
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- 300 g red split lentils washed
- 850 ml water
- 1 tsp ground tumeric
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cm fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 10 g fresh coriander chopped, to serve
Quantity of servings: large servings
View units in:
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Ingredients
Quantity of servings: large servings View units in: |
- Boil the water, and add to the pan with the lentils, and tumeric. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for 15 minutes. If you notice any scum forming, simply skim it off.
- Meanwhile, chop the onion, heat the oil in a pan and cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring every so often, until soft and starting to brown.
- Grate the garlic and ginger, add to the onions along with the cumin, and coriander. Stir to mix through and turn off the heat until the lentils are ready.
- Once the lentils have cooked, tip into the pan with the onion and spices. Heat and stir through until gently bubbling all the way through.
- Serve in bowls with the fresh coriander sprinkled on top. Delicious with a spoonful of mango chutney on the side. You could also add some chilli flakes or fresh red chilli if you like it spicy!
cook once: eat twice
This freezes really well, so double the ingredients and have one ready in the freezer for an easy Friday night curry! Or freeze portions separately for a batch of lunches.
Calories from Fat 45
8%
15%
0%
13%
16%
44%
44%
3%
5%
1%
24%