This is a favorite dish of mine, and the spice blend is shared with many of your favorite meat dishes such as butter chicken or Tikka Masala. This is also an EASY dish, but you do need some patience. For those that don't have a cabinet FULL of spices, and don't want to deal with dry roasting your own blend I have a short cut for you.
What you will need:
1 lbs of red lentils
2 tablespoons ghee or cooking oil of your choice
1 28 ounce can tomato puree
1 14 ounce can of coconut milk (you can use full fat or the light, doesn't make a difference)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
(Shortcut!)
Now, instead of all these spices you can obtain at your local grocer a 'butter chicken' spice mix already prepared for you, in the Indian section. Shown below, there are many brands this is just one.
If you use this shortcut, you will want to add a tablespoon of paprika and a tablespoon of sugar during the simmering process.
1/2 large sweet onion (diced)
1 tablespoon minced, fresh garlic.
Ok, so now that you have all these ingredients, now what? Well, you're going to sweat your onions in the hot ghee(clarified butter)/cooking oil. Make sure your oil is hot before you add them, then sauté them on medium for two minutes until translucent.
At this point add your garlic and continue simmering for 1 minutes until fragrant. Your nose knows.
Add your spices at this point and sauté for a minute or two, once again until fragrant.
Add your entire can of tomato puree and combine thoroughly. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add coconut milk and simmer for 30 minutes, if you took the shortcut, this is where you'll add the sugar and paprika. After 30 minutes the sauce (masala) should have reduced and should taste good enough to eat on its own.
Now, pour into a rice cooker with your lentils (rinse your lentils first! scummy lentils are gross). Cook on your white rice setting until tender, if the sauce has gotten too thick thin out with water until desired consistency. I like my lentils like porridge so I added a half cup of water to mine, you might add more... this won't effect the taste.
Now you can top these with anything but what I have shown is some fresh edamame, toasted coconut pieces and pumpkin seeds. Or you can serve these as a side along a main course. These are super tasty, super versatile and very filling. I hope you enjoy!
