Description
Hearty and delicious oil-free vegan dal recipe with millet and black Beluga lentils. You’ll only need 30 minutes to prepare this simple and quick dal.
Soaking time: 4-6 hours
Ingredients
- 150 g (5 ounces) beluga lentils
- 100 g (3.5 ounces) millet
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp Indian spice mix
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- A pinch of black pepper
- ½ cup (125 ml) coconut milk
- Water – as much as needed for required consistency/thickness
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Instructions
- Start by soaking Beluga lentils for at least 6 hours. Then drain and rinse.
- Next, rinse the millet very well.
- In a medium saucepan on high heat, add 1 tablespoon of water. When the water begins to sputter, add the chopped onion, and cook stirring for about 3 minutes, adding water just as needed to prevent sticking (one tbsp at a time).
- Now add chopped carrot and bay leaf along with lentils and millet. Pour in hot water, a little bit over the level of the ingredients and cook until the lentils are tender, 15-20 minutes. Check the water level during simmering and add more if necessary.
- When the dal is cooked, stir in garlic powder, coconut milk, turmeric, pepper, and crushed Indian spice mix.
- Finally, mix in nutritional yeast.
Notes
I’d strongly recommend soaking the black lentils because it’ll reduce cooking time, enhance vitamin and mineral absorption, and ease the digestion. Moreover, soaking gets rid of most of the black colour that would otherwise leach into your dal turning the colour quite unflattering.
Feel free to use 1½ tablespoon of store bought curry powder or garam masala mix instead of turmeric and Indian spice mix for convenience. However, be careful if the powder contains hot spices like chilli. In case you’re sensitive to hot spices, use less.
A tablespoon of coconut butter makes an excellent replacement for coconut milk. Simply mix it into the ready dal.
Fresh garlic can be added instead of garlic powder. I’d suggest crushing a few cloves into the dal when it has cooled down a bit to preserve the beneficial allicin.
For a balanced meal, serve with plenty of greens (raw, steamed or boiled) and other veggies. Learn How to Cook Vegetables to Retain Nutrients.
Finally, if you feel that you need to add some salt, don’t go over half a teaspoon of Himalayan salt to keep this recipe Plantricious. Half a teaspoon results in 298.8mg of sodium per serving.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
- Method: Stove
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Quarter of the recipe
- Calories: 309 kcal
- Sodium: 22.8mg
- Fat: 6.8g
- Carbohydrates: 38.6g
- Fiber: 11.1g
- Protein: 14.6g
