Dal with Cilantro and Coconut Cream

My friend Lauren made Dal a few weeks ago, and the photos she posted caused me to covet her food. Then VeganDad posted an enticing Dal recipe last week. Food envy threatened my concentration. I obsessed over Dal recipes. So I decided to welcome the synchronicity.

This weekend I adapted a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (304). I added olive oil and an onion, and I used brown lentils instead of red because no supermarket around these parts sells anything as fancy as red lentils. Also, I substituted 2 tablespoons curry powder for the minced ginger, and I added 2 teaspoons of dried cilantro in place of the chopped cilantro stems. Oddly, Madison's recipe leaves out curry, which strikes me as sacrilege.

This recipe does not take much stirring, but requires a generous pinch of patience and flexibility.

What you need:

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 bag of brown lentils

1 onion, chopped

3 gloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

several tablespoons of coconut cream (the cream rises to the top of a can of coconut milk, so you just need to scrape off the cream)

sea salt

water

What to do:

Sautee the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in olive oil over medium heat.

Add the lentils when the vegetables soften, then add enough water to cover the lentils by one or two inches.

Cover the pot and cook on low heat.

Keep checking the pot (about once every half hour).

Add more water if necessary, the goal is to get the lentils to soften without drying out and scorching the pot.

Once the lentils have softened, add the curry powder and cilantro.

Stir in the coconut creme (add enough until the Dal turns a pale yellow).

Cover and simmer until ready to serve.

You may choose to serve the Dal over rice, but that is not necessary.