Easy gluten-free dal

Gluten-free dal

This easy to cook recipe for Indian lentil soup, or dal is naturally gluten-free. A staple in Indian families, dal is the absolute comfort food.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

• 100g red or yellow lentils (I use masoor, mung or arhar dal)

• Turmeric powder (1 teaspoon)

• Coriander powder (1 teaspoon)

• Chilli powder (as per taste or 1 teaspoon)

• Salt (according to taste)

For the tempering (“tadka” in Hindi)

• 1 tbsp. Olive or rapeseed oil (for vegan version) or ghee

• 1 tsp. cumin seeds

• 1 dried red chilli

• 1 onion, finely sliced

• 1 tomato, finely diced

• Some lemon juice

• 1 tbsp. coriander leaves

Instructions

1. Boil the lentils with double the amount of water, salt and turmeric in a pot for about 30 minutes or until they are cooked and mushy. Keep the pot with the lentils aside.

2. Heat the oil, butter or ghee in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds.
   Let them sputter and then add the slices of onion. Fry until transparent.

3. Add the tomato cubes, fry for a bit until the skin gets soft.

4. Pour the mixture into the pot with the cooked lentils, then set the pot back on the hob. Warm up the mixture, adding a little water if the lentils are too thick.

5. Serve with gluten-free rotis or rice.

6. Add a dash of lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Dal is made of lentils and by its very nature, gluten-free. It can be eaten as a stand-alone soup (although that’s not very common in India) or as an accompaniment with rice or rotis.