Dal Chawal is an absolutely beautiful dinner in its simplicity. Also, it is true soul food to me! In its most basic form, it is steamed rice (Chawal) topped with lentils (Dal). It can be served with a side of roast baby potatoes and a cucumber raita as I have done here. Obviously, you can choose whatever vegetables you have on hand as a side. To be honest, if you add a few veggies like carrots and spinach to the dal, you can skip the side of vegetables completely.

Most Indian dishes can be fairly involved. However, this meal is a pretty basic weeknight Indian dinner that comes together very quickly. Start the rice in a saucepan or a rice cooker. Toss baby potatoes with some oil, cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili powder. Roast in oven at 400F for about 25 minutes. While those are cooking, focus on the lentils and the raita.

Masoor Dal (Indian Spiced Lentils)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1/4 tsp hing (asafetida)
• 1/2 tsp each turmeric, cumin powder, and coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste (or just finely mince some ginger and garlic)
• A large tomato, chopped
• 1 cup of just cooked lentils (I used French green lentils this time)
• 2 handfuls of baby spinach

Method

• In a heavy bottom pan, warm the oil and add the cumin seeds, the dried red chillies and the hing. This step is called tempering or ‘tadka’ and is usually done at the end and poured on top of dal to finish the dish. In the interest of keeping this a one-pot dish, I reversed the order!
• Once the cumin seeds are sizzling, add the ginger-garlic paste and all the spices.
• Now add the tomatoes, the lentils, and the spinach. Add some water to get a thick soup like consistency.
• Cover and let simmer for at least 15 minutes. If you do not have pre-cooked lentils, just cover and cook for longer till the lentils are soft (about 30 minutes total). If you have the luxury of time, let it simmer even longer or maybe even make it ahead of time to get all ingredients to come together and the dal to thicken.

Cucumber Raita

Ingredients

• 1/2 English cucumber, grated
• 1 cup of plain natural yogurt of your choice (if using Greek yogurt, you may need to thin it down a bit)
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• a pinch of salt and sugar
• 2 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 dried red chili
• 1/2 tsp urad dal (optional)
• About a tbsp of chopped cilantro

Method

• Add yogurt, cumin powder, salt and sugar to a bowl and whisk till smooth.
• Mix in the cucumber into the yogurt. You can stop here if you like.
• The real flavor comes from the tempering or ‘tadka’. In a small saucepan with lid, warm up a little bit of oil. Add the mustard seeds. Cover and let sputter and pop till you don’t hear any more sound. Then open the lid and add the red chili and urad dal (if using) along with the cilantro. Let warm through for a minute and then pour the tempering over the raita.

Enjoy the simple Indian Dal Chawal dinner and remember to salt the plate!