Basic Dal

Check out more of Kishori’s cooking on her blog, I Can Be Jell-O.

Happy September! Really and truly, isn’t it a happy time? Even though I was born in the summer, I am always grateful for the end of August – that plodding, humid month that’s really (let’s be honest) a lengthy prelude to the best season of the year. I love fall: the abundance of apples, baked and fresh; the need for coffee and tea in its natural hot form (so much better than iced!); and of course, the quiet hum of energy as school swings back into session. Although I’m not in school anymore, I do find that I miss the reliable traditions that come with its new year: fresh notebooks, new shoes, and a vacation schedule set in stone.

Of course, there are plenty of benefits to being an adult, and not a kid, in autumn. Ignoring the sales on turtlenecks and sweaters, for example, and splurging instead on a too-expensive but lust worthy coat that will only be useful for a few months before the down-feathered bulky one needs to be dragged out of the closet… now that’s a freedom I don’t wish to hand back. And here’s another one that I truly don’t miss – the brown bag school lunch.

I have nothing against the pb&j sandwich, the granola bar, the mysterious looking pizza that the cafeteria served. But as a post-adolescent human being, my favorite lunch is almost always getting to have leftovers from dinner. It’s filling, it’s warm, and most of all, it’s comforting.

Which brings me to this yellow dal. Now dal and the like weren’t exactly the coolest thing to bring into my high school cafeteria, but now, at the ripe old age of 24, that’s the last thing on my mind. Sitting down to a meal of rice, this dal, a sabji (a vegetable side) and some plain yogurt makes me irrationally happy. It is my ultimate comfort food, and I make it once – usually twice – a week.

It’s important to use the right kind of lentils for this version, as it will decrease your cooking time enormously. They should be orange, round, and thin. There are hundreds of different recipes for dal (here’s another one to definitely check out), but I like this one for its one-pot ease and familiarity. Feel free to adjust it however you see fit – add a tomato, add more chilis, experiment with different kind of lentils when you get comfortable with the basic technique. Just make sure to make a big enough pot of it, so you can look forward to having it for lunch the next day. For this is the important thing to think about as you trudge through the fallen wet leaves to your current cafeteria of choice.

Basic Dal

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients
A few tablespoons of canola oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
3 dried red chiles
Pinch asafetida *
1 chopped white onion
½ jalapeno, chopped and seeded (leave seeds in if you like the heat)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups washed massor dal (orange lentils)
6 cups water
juice of ½ lemon and chopped cilantro (optional)

*Asafetida can be found in any Indian grocery store, or online Indian grocery store. Although definitely recommended to buy, you can still make this dal without it.

In a soup pot, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and chiles until the cumin seeds start to turn a darker shade of brown (about a minute.) Add the chopped onion and jalapeno, and let cook until onion is starting to brown. Add the salt.

Add the lentils and stir so the lentils are coated in your cooking oil. Add about ½ cupf of water, and wait until the water has been absorbed. Then add the remaining 5 ½ cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Partially cover and stir every 10 minutes until the lentils are soft, and breaking down. The dal will start to be yellow instead of orange. Let simmer for about 25 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve over hot rice.