The Great Dal Experiment: Dal Palak

I had a revelation when Stephen insisted we go for Indian food a few weeks ago. My general order is whatever has panner in it but this time I was tempted by a lentil dish. It was amazing. And I wondered why I don't eat more dal at home. I have the lentils, I have recipes, they don't take that much time... I really do have enough recipes.

That's not even all of them

So I sat down with my stack of books and wrote a list and a resolution. I want to eat one dal a week. I'm interpreting the resolution loosely so there are going to be other lentil and pulse rich foods in my diet but I want to try as much as possible.

Moong (split yellow) and Masoor (split red)

For my first outing I tried the Dal Palak from Miss Massala tempted by the idea of spinach, onion and garlic. As the lentils where cooking away I wondered the same thing I always do when making dal: why do I think this it time consuming again? Because it's not. I have this idea that if you are cooking a pulse it's going to take seven hundred hours of soaking but this was quick. A fairly relaxed twenty minutes or so of cooking. Including making the bread.

And just look at it! I'm in love. I don't yet know what my next dal experiment will be but this one was a big success.