Made this recipe tonight and it was just fantastic -- easy to put together and just perfectly spiced. Actually I made two of the recipes on the blog post I'm linking to -- the red lentils with cabbage were also excellent...

Emily

What Indian cuisine does with the lowly lentil is awe inspiring. Also vegetables. And the writer in the blog you linked is quite correct...the spices become addictive.

My husband and I have been suffering from Honeymoon Heft...having a man to cook for inspired me and a year and a half later, we both sobered up and decided we'd better go back to eating reasonably.

Neither of us can bear diets, so I have to be creative. I instituted a first course with every dinner...salad or soup...and leave off actually assembling the rest of the dinner until after that course is consumed. This gives us a pleasant interlude for conversation while I get the main meal together, and also time for our tummies to realize that they aren't really all that empty! :D

Also, I decided I must quit employing the easy way out with vegetables...sauteed or steamed and doused in butter, salt & pepper and find ways to create tasty veggie sides without all the extra calories. Indian recipes to the rescue!

And dals! Lentils and legumes are such healthy, inexpensive foods, and filling without being loaded with fat or calories! They make a wonderful side dish...plus, when you eat Dal, it just cries out for basmati rice...a starch side one doesn't need to load up with butter, cheese, or sour cream!

Red Lentils with Ginger* (Masoor Dal)

2 c dried red lentils (masoor dal), picked over, rinsed and drained.
4 c water
1/2 t ground tumeric
2 T clarified butter (Ghee) or veggie oil
1 t cumin seed
2 medium red onions, cut in half and thinly sliced (Dunno what he considers medium, but I've played around and decided arbitrarily that his onions are smaller than ours...so I settled at 2 cups of not so tightly packed, sliced onions)
2 T finely chopped ginger root (slice it, smash it with a whap from the flat of your cleaver, and then mince it up...or, just use a microplane, it's easier)
3 fresh serrano chilis, crushed. (Do not do this, unless you have an asbestos tongue. Start out with ONE chili, and then work your way up from there...if it isn't spicy enough at table, one can add cayenne, but if it's too spicy, ain't much you kin do 'bout dat)
1 t salt
2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Heat lentils, water & tumeric to boiling, and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes, skimming foam, until lentils just sart to soften and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat.

While lentils are simmering, heat the clarified butter or oil over a medium high heat. Add cumin seed, sizzle 30 seconds, add onion, ginger & chilies, stir fry 2 to 4 minutes, until onion is golden brown.

Stir onion mixture & salt into lentils. Simmer uncovered 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender. Serve sprinkled with cilantro.

*From Betty Crocker's (believe it or not) Indian Home Cooking, with Raghavan Iyer