Dal Soup

A thick soup with red lentils, coconut milk and curry spices

I didn’t know much about red lentils until I tried this recipe. Monisha Bharadwaj has a great book called The Indian Cooking Course that I use whenever I want to know more about anything Indian. Dal is just the word for lentil in many parts of India. I learned that red/orange lentils are mentioned in texts in India as far back as 800BC. Masoor dal, or red lentils, are the split, skinned bean. The outside skin is greenish-black in color and fairly thick. When you cook red lentils, they become more like thick pea soup.

Dal soup is another soup with interesting spices that Myra developed. It has mustard seeds that make it look like it has polka dots and hot peppers, because Myra loved peppers. Myra used serrano pepper in this soup for a burst of spiciness.

I used a red jalapeno, for taste and color. It’s up to you to decide how spicy you want it! I serve this with finely chopped fresh hot peppers on the side, so people can make it as hot as they want.

Dal Soup

Red Lentil soup with coconut and Indian curry spices

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Soup

Cuisine American, Indian

Servings 8 servings

Equipment

• 1 skillet with a lid
• 1 four quart soup pot
• knife and cutting board to chop onion, garlic and hot peppers

Ingredients

  

• 3 cups red lentils
• 6 cups water
• 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped (1 Tablespoon)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 TBLS. black mustard seeds
• 1/2 hot pepper See notes, below
• 1.5 teas. garam masala
• 1.5 teas. ground ginger
• 1.5 teas. ground cumin
• 1.5 teas. salt
• 1/2 teas. coriander
• 1/2 teas. dry mustard
• 1/2 teas. black pepper
• 1/4 teas. cayenne pepper
• 1 can coconut milk

Instructions

 

• Cook the lentils: Rinse the lentils before cooking. Place the lentils in your soup pot with 6 cups of water and 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add the coconut milk, simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes until the lentils are tender. Stir every so often to prevent sticking. Set side.
• In your skillet heat 1/4 cup of oil over medium heat. Add the mustard seed. Put the lid on and shake the skillet gently. When the mustards seeds start to pop, add the onions. Sauté the onion until it is limp. Add the garlic and the spices. Cook for another 3 minutes, or until the onion is well cooked.
• Add the contents of the skillet to the pot with the lentils.

  Taste to see if it needs more salt. Add a little water if it seems too thick.

  Chop the hot pepper fine and add to the pot.

  Heat and Serve

Notes

Myra used a serrano pepper in this soup. It needs that burst of spiciness.

I used a red jalapeno, for taste and color. I think it’s up to you to decide how spicy you want it! I serve this with finely chopped fresh peppers on the side, so people can make it as hot as they want.

Keyword coconut milk, garam masala, cumin,coriander, Red Lentils