15-Minute Black Dhal | Recipe

This is a shortcut recipe for a quick, creamy, deeply flavoursome dhal. Traditional black dhal uses black urad dhal (lentils), but cooking those from scratch takes a long time, so we’ve swapped them for precooked Puy lentils so that you can get lunch on the table in 15-minutes, making it an easy option for a quick lunch. The chilli, ginger, red onion and coriander give it a punchy flavour that’s equally warming and invigorating.

Serves  2

15 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

small chunk of ginger (about 2cm), peeled and finely chopped

1 long green chilli, finely chopped

1 × 250g pack of cooked Puy lentils or

1 × 400g tin of green lentils, drained and rinsed

1 heaped tablespoon tomato purée

125ml coconut cream, plus extra to serve

2 teaspoons medium curry powder

2 large handfuls of spinach (about 100g)

juice of ½ lemon

½ bunch of coriander (about 10–15g), roughly chopped

sea salt

Method

Warm the olive oil in a saucepan set over a medium heat. Set aside about a third of each of the chopped onion, ginger and chilli, then add the remainder to the pan. Cook for 8–10 minutes, until soft and fragrant.

While the onion is cooking, add 2 tablespoons of lentils, the tomato purée, coconut cream, curry powder and a pinch of salt to a food processor or mini chopper and blitz until completely smooth.

Add the spice paste to the onions and cook for another minute, then add the remaining lentils and 200ml of boiling water. Bring to a simmer then add the spinach and lemon juice, stirring until the spinach has wilted. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as needed.

Divide the dhal between serving bowls and scatter over the reserved onion, ginger and chilli, followed by the coriander, a pinch of salt and an extra spoonful of coconut cream.

If you don’t have any coconut cream, swap it for coconut yoghurt, stirring it all in at the end.