Plant Based U

Fat-Free and Low Fat Vegan Plant Based Recipes

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Tarka Dal Remixed with Yams, Potatoes and Spinach (Plant Based and Vegan Red Lentil Curry)

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Occasionally I take recipes I’ve already made and change them up a bit depending on what I have on hand if I need to use up some fresh ingredients or when I’m looking for something different. I highly doubt this is in anyway an authentic Indian dish now, but it’s still really tasty and healthy. I have adapted my Tarka Dal recipe here and doubled it except for the lentils and added yam, potatoes, and spinach to it.



This time I just tossed all of the spices in at the same time instead of making a separate tarka tempering. If you like eating large pieces of ginger or curry leaves in the finished dish great, if not after cooking you can remove them before serving.

I served this over white basmati rice but you can also use fresh roti bread, brown basmati rice etc.

Fat Free Vegan Red Lentil Tarka Dal (Indian Lentil Curry)

Serves 4

Dal Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils (split)
1 large onion, diced
4-5 large tomatoes, diced (or 2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes)
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 inches of ginger peeled and sliced in long strips
1 medium yam/sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
As much fresh/frozen spinach as you want
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp Herbamare or salt to taste
6 cups of water or vegetable broth (low sodium)
1 1/2 tsp roasted ground cumin
1 tsp roasted ground coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds (black)
1-2 dried red chilli, chopped (more if desired)
8-12 curry leaves fresh or dried *optional
2-4 tbsp lemon juice
1 handful cilantro/coriander, chopped for garnish

Directions:

1. Place lentils into a mesh metal strainer and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. *To cook your lentils faster you can soak in warm water while you prep the rest of your vegetables.

2. Heat a large saucepan or large pot over medium heat and add the onions, garlic, ginger and turmeric. Sprinkle a little salt on the onions to get them to sweat. (You will need a large pot or giant saute pan for the amount of liquid here) Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add the tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes are soft.

3. Add drained lentils, yams, potatoes, seasonings (except lemon juice and cilantro) and water or vegetable broth. Stir and bring to a boil uncovered. Turn heat down to medium low and and cover with a vented lid (or leave lid cracked to let steam escape) cook for 20-30 minutes until the lentils and potatoes are soft and to desired tenderness. Take off the lid and let some of the liquid cook down until desired consistency. If your potatoes and lentils are still soft and you need more liquid as water as needed to continue cooking.

4. Add the fresh or frozen spinach and stir it in to wilt or incorporate. As fresh spinach cooks down into nothing you can really add as much as you want here.

5. Add the lemon juice and check for flavours. Add more Herbamare or salt to taste and adjust seasonings if desired.

6. Serve and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Additional Tips:

If you like you can use different lentils, but keep in mind that whole lentils will take longer to cook, so you may need to cook this dal for around an hour until they are soft.

What’s your favorite plant based curry?  


Fat Free Vegan Red Lentil Tarka Dal Curry (Indian Lentil Curry)

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Now that the weather is cooling down, how about some delicious dal curries to warm things up?

This is another version of tarka (meaning tempered spices) dal using split red lentils. It is really simple to make, totally vegan and contains only a few ingredients. I make this recipe often when I’m looking for a quick dish and I always keep onions, tomatoes and red lentils on hand for just such an occasion. What’s nice about this dish is you can take this basic recipe and change it up with different spices, add more or omit the chilies depending how spicy you like it and use it as a thick stew as it is or a curry to serve over rice.

The dal is cooked separately and then the tarka seasonings are fried on their own and added  after so they retain more of their flavor. If you’re short on time you can throw everything in together, but it might be a little blander so you’ll want to adjust the seasonings. Normally the spices are tempered in ghee or oil, but since I don’t use oil in my recipes I’ve added slightly more whole dried spices to this recipe and used some water instead.

This is a beautiful dish that is great for entertaining and also a nice way to introduce lentils to your friends and family that may be skeptical of them. Red lentils are very mild and don’t have any flavor when they are cooked so they absorb the flavors they are cooked in very well. I prefer using split red lentils over regular whole brown lentils for this recipe as they are lighter and smoother tasting.

Feel free to try using other lentils, but you will need to cook your dal much longer as whole lentils will take twice as long to cook.

 

Fat Free Vegan Red Lentil Tarka Dal (Indian Lentil Curry)

Serves 4

Dal Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils (split)
1 large onion, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced (or 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 – 3/4 tsp Herbamare or salt to taste
3 cups of water or vegetable broth (low sodium)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp roasted ground cumin
1/2 tsp roasted ground coriander
1 handful cilantro/coriander, chopped for garnish

Tarka Tempering:

2-3 inches of ginger peeled and sliced in long strips
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds (black)
1 dried red chilli, chopped (more if desired)
4-6 curry leaves *optional

Directions:

1. Place lentils into a mesh metal strainer and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. *To cook your lentils faster you can soak in warm water while you prep the rest of your vegetables.

2. Heat a medium saucepan or wok over medium heat and add the onions, garlic and turmeric. Sprinkle a little salt on the onions to get them to sweat. Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add the tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes are soft.

3. Add drained lentils and 3 cups of water or vegetable broth. Stir and bring to a boil uncovered. Turn heat down to medium low and and cover with a vented lid (or leave lid cracked to let steam escape) cook for 20-30 minutes until the lentils are soft and to desired tenderness.

4. In another pan, add a little water and fry the slices of ginger, chilies and curry leaves. Stir the ginger. When the water dissipates, add the mustard seeds and toast until they pop. Then add the cumin seeds and toast for a minute or two.

5. Add the tarka seasonings, lemon juice, cumin and coriander powder to the dal and stir in. Add Herbamare or salt to taste and adjust seasonings if desired.

6. Serve and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Additional Tips:

If you like you can use different lentils, but keep in mind that whole lentils will take longer to cook, so you may need to cook this dal for around an hour until they are soft.

What’s your favorite way to use lentils?  

Kik Alicha (Vegan Ethiopian Yellow Split Pea Stew)

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I love Ethiopian food, when it’s fresh especially, but also because it is very tasty and filling as well.

Some of the dishes are very easy to make, and taste perfectly fine using zero oil. The lentil and split pea dishes are especially tasty and easy to make.

This yellow split pea stew one is my absolute favourite of all Ethiopian dishes because it is mild and savoury. I’m not one for the spicy dishes like mesir wot, but you can always add some spiciness to this dish if you desire.

Serve this Kik Alicha with injeera, rice or even Indian bread like chapati or roti for a whole meal.

 

Kik Alicha (Ethiopian Yellow Split Pea Stew)

Serves 2 as mains for an Ethiopian dinner

Ingredients:

3 cups water
vegetable broth as needed
1 cup dried yellow split peas, rinsed
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled, and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 – 1 tsp herbamare or salt
pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place water and the split peas in large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; and cook about 30 minutes, just until tender. (Alternatively you can cook them in a pressure cooker, use a digital electric pressure cooker as it has a non stick pan, don’t do this in a metal stovetop pressure cooker as it can burn to the bottom.)

2. In a frying pan, add some vegetable broth and bring to high heat. Add onion, reduce to medium high and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add more broth as needed Add the garlic, ginger and turmeric; cook another 5 minutes.

3. Once done, add the mixture to cooked peas; stir in salt and pepper. Simmer until peas are very soft, and almost mushy about 30 minutes more. Taste test; adjust seasonings if needed.

What’s your favourite Ethiopian dish?