I love to cook as you know, but nothing gives me as much joy as cooking Indian food. Nothing can beat the alchemy of the Indian kitchen. My house is full of the aroma's that to me say India. If only we had smelly Blogging...

I thought I would share with you my recipe for Dal.

Vegan Bears Dal recipe...

Recipe serves 6 or 2 hungry Bears for dinner and lunch the next day.

2 cups Red Lentils
2 tbsp Ground Nut Oil 
1 cup Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1/4 tsp ground Cardamom
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups Vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups chopped Tomatoes with juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh Cilantro
2 tablespoons minced fresh Ginger
1 fresh Red Chili, minced
1 tsp ground Turmeric
1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Sugar

Place the lentils on a clean, flat surface, preferably light in colour to visually aid in the sorting. Sort through the lentils and discard any pebbles. Place the sorted Lentils in a fine mesh strainer and rinse with cold running water, drain. I soak my lentils for a few hours but this is depends on what lentils you use.

Heat the oil in a large heavy bottom pan over medium-high heat, and sauté the onion with the sugar until golden brown, about 5 minutes. 

Add the cumin seeds, cardamom, and garlic to the pan and stir until the spices are just fragrant, about 2 minutes. 

Add the stock, tomatoes, lentils, cilantro, ginger, red chili, turmeric and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring often, until lentils become soft, about 15 minutes.

Serve with rice and nan bread, and if you want to make it look good why not add some soya yoghurt in the middle of the Dal.

I hope you enjoy this.

Bear. X