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Aubergine dal

I’ve written this recipe off the back of making it whilst actually measuring my quantities, for once. I’ve put the prep needed for each ingredient in the ingredients section, but this recipe (like everything I cook) allows for parallelisation, so I would recommend reading the full recipe and figuring out when you actually need the chopping to be done before starting.

Makes

4 portions? I’m bad at quantities.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cm of ginger, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 aubergine, diced
• 1 large (or 2 small) tomato, diced
• 1 cup of red split lentils

Method

1. In a large frying pan, fry the seeds for about a minute (or until they start to pop) at medium high heat in a neutral oil like sunflower oil.
2. Add the onions and salt, lower the heat to medium, and leave for about 10-15 minutes until transparent, stirring every 3 to 4 minutes
3. Once the onions are cooked, add the ginger, garlic, and ground spices, and stir for about a minute, or until fragrant.
4. Add the aubergine, stirring until all of it is coated in oil. If needed, add more oil. Add the tomato, stir, and then leave for about 10 minutes, until the aubergine is soft.
5. Add the lentils, and cover with boiling water. Turn the heat up and leave with the lid on until the water is boiling, then lower the heat and let simmer until the lentils are cooked and the dal is the desired thickness.

Serve with rice, or with bread (I find that naan and other flatbreads work best, but I have used toast in a pinch.)

Notes

This recipe is very forgiving, particularly in regards to spices. I’m being overly specific here in case anyone is an anxious cook, but feel free to play around with it. The most important spices for this recipe are the cinnamon and cumin, but you can play around with the rest, or add chilli powder or cayenne pepper, whatever you want.

This recipe uses half an aubergine. I’ve found that an entire aubergine is a lot for most of my recipes, so I typically use half of one and make two aubergine-based meals back-to-back. I’ll endeavour to post other recipes soon that will use up the other half of the aubergine.

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