daal

I have had a lot of daals in my life so far, from the very bland to the extremely rich and creamy ones, however I have never had daal that tasted so good till I tried this recipe. The secret I believe is in the spices and the added lemon juice. If you are a fan of daal, then please do try this recipe and let me know what you think. Ready in 30 minutes and you don’t even need to finely chop. An ideal soup for a wintery or rainy day. This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and vegan. My suggestion is to always keep red split lentils in your cupboard and to get organic ones as they are very reasonably priced and worth spending that extra few pennies for it! And finally I use now leeks instead of onions as I found they are less farty J

PREPARATION & COOKING TIME: 30 mins

INGREDIENTS for 2 portions:

200gr red split lentils

1 medium leeks, chopped (including the green bits) and washed

2 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil, plus some more for topping

2 clove garlic, chopped

1 vegetable stock cube, gluten free diluted in 1.5 litres water

1 teaspoon salt

5 cardamom pods, 5 cloves & 1 tspn fennel seeds

1 lemon juice

• place olive oil, leeks & garlic in the pressure cooker/pot and saute for couple minutes on low heat with the cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds, toasting the herbs
• add the red split lentils and let them soak the oil
• then add the stock and salt cover with lid and bring to the boil
• cook for 10 mins, over low heat, stirring regularly and adding extra water if needed
• once cooked, get rid of the 5 cardamom and cloves and blend with mini piper
• add the lemon juice, stirring well
• serve on soup bowl with salad, rice or bread

NUTRITIONAL VALUE PER PORTION
energy kcal	489.8
fat	15.2
of which saturated	2.3
carbohydrates	65.2
of which sugars	4.2
fibre	6.7
protein	25.0
salt	0.3