Spiced Lentil & Coconut Dhal - Waitrose Winter Harvest 2015 Recipe

Yesterday I made Spiced Lentil & Coconut Dhal from the Waitrose Winter Harvest 2015 magazine - a brilliant little mag with 75 recipes, most of which I want to try out! If you don't have the magazine, most of the recipes seem to be here, on their website.

I've already done a couple, including the One Pot Cajun Rice & Beans which I have blogged about here.

I had some Chickpea, Potato and Spinach Curry left over from the night before but there wasn't quite enough for a full meal so I thought this dahl would be a nice addition, along with some homemade naan in the breadmaking machine. I love dahl, and already have my own tried and tested tarka dal recipe but I love trying new recipes and coconut is also one of my favourite flavours.

Some of the things that appealed to me about this Spiced Lentil & Coconut Dhal recipe:
1. It's dal!
2. Lentils are a fantastic superfood - high in fibre, low on the glycemic index (release energy slowly and steadily), they lower cholesterol, are high in protein as well as being packed with vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, iron and folate....and too many others to list!
3. No pre-soaking - Red split lentils do not need pre-soaking, unlike the yellow split peas/chana dal that I usually use to make dahl so handy if you're not good at forward planning or want to make this on the spur of the moment.
4. Low cost - Lentils are not expensive. The almonds and coconut milk can be expensive, depending on where you buy them.
5. Almonds for your brain - I love almonds, another brilliant superfood that I try to eat as much as possible.
6. Quick & Easy - This recipe is relatively quick (10 minutes to prepare and 25 to cook) and very easy.
7. Brilliant left overs - Reheated dal tastes even more fantastic the next day although you may need to add extra water or stock as the lentils absorb more liquid overnight.

I tried to stick to the recipe as much as possible. I didn't have any Madras curry powder, just a jar that said "curry powder" so perhaps not the exact same blend of spices. I already had a bag of almond slivers so didn't want to buy the wholefood ones listed in the recipe. And I didn't eat the dal with the wraps suggested as I was making my own naan bread. I also needed to add more water because it was very dry and the lentils needed cooking a little bit longer because after 15 minutes they were still a bit hard. Below is my very slightly modified version:

Spiced Lentil & Coconut Dhal
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red chilli, de-seeded ad finely chopped
 1tbsp curry powder
250g red split lentils
400ml can reduced fat coconut milk
450ml vegetable stock
100g frozen peas
50g flaked almonds
bunch of fresh coriander, chopped.

Method:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion, carrot and chilli for 4-5 minutes.
Add the curry powder and lentils. Stir well and fry for 1 minute.
Pour in the coconut milk and stock. Mix thoroughly. 
Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add peas and almonds and cook for another 5 minutes. Check the lentils are cooked.
Stir in the chopped coriander and serve!
As mentioned above, I served mine with home-made naan, a dollop of natural yoghurt and my favourite chutney (Geetas Premium Mango Chutney)

Verdict

This was really nice! I especially liked the creaminess of the coconut and the crunch of the almonds. Mine wasn't quite as yellow as the photo in the magazine but that might be because of the difference in curry powder - perhaps the version they used had more turmeric in it? 

The next day, we had the left overs for lunch with naan bread (above) - I added a bit of vegetable stock as it had gone quite thick and this had the added benefit of making it more soupy. It tasted even better than the day before. I'll defintely be making this again!