Indian Dinner

I found a new vegan website called paku paku that's full of delicious sounding ethnic recipes and I finally got around to trying one tonight for Dal, which you may know is an Indian lentil dish. Its in the bottom right hand corner of the picture above, cozying up to some pear chutney baked tofu and a rice dish from Passionate Vegetarian called Katherine's Ghee Rice with Cashews and Melting Onions. That's a long way of saying rice with too much butter. I don't know how it would taste with earth balance or oil in place of the butter but if I try it out I will let you know. The tofu was my own creation and I think it could use a little work before I put it on the blog but the Dal was quite tasty and I'd like to share it with you.

The recipe on paku paku didn't have exact measurements so I wrote down the amounts I used.

Dal

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils (I'm sure brown would be fine too)
3 cups water
1/4 t. turmeric
1 t. fresh grated ginger
1/2 cup finely chopped collard greens
1 roma tomato, chopped
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. garam masala
chopped cilantro, optional

First put the lentils in a large pan with the water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the turmeric. Continue simmering and stirring occasionally until the lentils begin to absorb most of the water, about 15 minutes.
Add the ginger and collards. Continue stirring and simmering for another 15 minutes or so, until the lentils are done to your liking. If they begin to dry up you can add more water.
When lentils are pretty much done, add the tomatoes, salt, and garam masala. Simmer for another few minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro, if using. Serve as a stew, over rice, or alone. Makes about 3 servings.