Dal is one of those fantastic, warming dishes that feels like a hug. Made with lentils and a variety of other vegetables, this version is as good for you as it is delicious.
I used a selection of slightly sad looking vegetables from the bottom of my freezer for this dal – it’s a brilliant for using up odds and ends in a really tasty way.
Dal is an Indian dish usually made with lentils, along with a variety of spices. The lentils are cooked down either in coconut milk or stock to make a lovely, creamy meal. It’s often served as a side dish.
What Vegetables can be Added?
This is the fun part – dal is incredibly versatile and so many vegetables can be added in during the cooking process. In my recipe, I’ve used frozen cauliflower, spinach and peas, but courgette, butternut squash, potato, sweet potato, peppers, carrots and tender stem broccoli could all work – in fact, I’m struggling to think of one that wouldn’t.
What Spices are Used in Dal?
You can use a variety of different spices, but I’ve purposefully kept my recipe here extremely simple. My dal uses store cupboard staples, so the only flavours here are onion, garlic, ginger and curry powder. Trust me, it’s delicious!
Dal can be cooked in about 30 minutes. You want to simmer the lentils in the liquid until they’re soft and flavourful. It’s a great week night dish.
What Goes Well With Dal?
Dal works brilliantly as a side dish with almost any curry. It also works well as a main dish with rice. I’ve made a cucumber and tomato yoghurt to go with it here – that brings some wonderful freshness. You can also serve with poppadoms, naan or flat breads.
Here are some curries that you could serve alongside this dal:
- Lamb and Spinach Curry
- Slow Cooked Beef Curry
- Easy One Pot Saag Paneer
- Chicken Balti
- Vegetable Korma
- The Creamiest Butter Halloumi Curry
Using Freezer Vegetables
You can chop and change the vegetables in this recipe to suit what you have in the freezer, but you’ll need to take account of how long they’ll take to cook. Larger vegetables like cauliflower, sweet potato, pumpkin etc. are quite dense and should be added early on to cook them through. Smaller vegetables like peas can be added right at the end because they just need to be warmed through.
Want more lentil recipes? Check out these ones.
This recipe takes 30 minutes and serves 4 as a main with the yoghurt.
You might also like these dal recipes:
Bottom-of-the-Freezer Vegetable Dal
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 thumb sized piece of ginger
- 2 tsps medium curry powder
- 300 g dried red lentils
- 100 g frozen cauliflower pieces
- 100 g frozen spinach
- 100 g frozen peas
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 1 handful fresh coriander
- 1 large tomato
- ½ cucumber
- 2 tbsps greek yoghurt
Instructions
- Peel and chop the onion. Peel and dice the garlic and ginger.
- Put a large saucepan on a medium heat and add the oil. When hot, add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes until softening.
- Add the lentils and curry powder. Stir, then pour in the coconut milk and 400ml water. Add your chunkier frozen vegetables – the cauliflower and spinach chunks.
- Turn down to a simmer and cook gently, stirring regularly, for about 20 minutes until the lentils are soft.
- Add the peas – cook for another minute – then stir in the chopped coriander. Season with salt.
- To make the yoghurt, chop the tomato and cucumber into 1cm pieces. Mix with the yoghurt and season with salt.
- To serve, scoop the warm dahl into bowls and top with the cool yoghurt. Delicious!
Nutrition
