Chickpea Coconut Dal is a wonderfully heart-warming dish. Dal, sometimes spelled daal or dhal, is an Indian word for split pulses, such as lentils. They are very popular in India and elsewhere in Asia. Of course, lentils are widely used in most countries.
This particular recipe uses red lentils as well as chickpeas and some coconut milk. In addition to those ingredients, there is onion and spinach and lots of spices. All of those ingredients come together into a wonderful dish. It takes very little time to make and offers such a great flavour.
The dish is often eaten with rice or with bread. Any bread is a great accompaniment. It is free from meat and dairy, so it’s vegan too. As mentioned, making the dish is very easy.
Process for Chickpea Coconut Dal
Simply cook the onions until they are nice and soft. That will take about 6 minutes. Then add spices, in this case, cumin, ginger, coriander, turmeric and chilli.
Cook them out for a minute or two. Next add some garlic as well, cooking for a minute. Then stir in coconut milk and chickpeas.
With that done add the lentils and some vegetable stock allow them to cook, bubbling gently, for about 25 minutes. Season with some salt and stir in the spinach until wilted. A little lemon juice adds an extra little twist too. So a wonderful dish can be ready to serve in less than an hour.
You can adjust the spices to your liking. Personally, I go for mild spicing since that is my preference. But some chilli flakes will add an extra kick or two. A little fresh coriander sprinkled over the top is good too.
Tasting my dal
My dal was very good indeed. The flavour was so good, and the texture of the chickpeas, along with the lentils and the creamy coconut milk was perfect. The combination of spices gave that little hit at the back of the throat too. After my initial taste, I ate mine with some rice for a great dinner.
Another great recipe is Italian Tomato Sauce – Onion & Butter, with Gnocchi.
Chickpea Coconut Dal
4
servings30
minutes40
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
400g(14oz) can of chickpeas, drained
400g(14 oz) can of coconut milk
750ml(3 cups+2 tbsp) vegetable stock
300g(2 1/2 cups) red lentils, washed and drained
1 large onion, roughly chopped
150g(5 1/4 oz) baby leaf spinach
6g(2 tsp) ground cumin
6g(2 tsp) ground ginger
6g(2 tsp) ground coriander
3g(1 tsp) chilli powder
3g(1 tsp) ground turmeric
2 cloves of garlic, minced
15ml(1 tbsp) lemon juice
salt, to taste, for seasoning
fresh coriander to sprinkle on top
15ml(1 tbsp) vegetable oil, for frying
Directions
- Heat the oil in a large pan.
- Add the onion and cook it gently for about 6 minutes until it is softened, but not browned.
- Stir in all the spices, adding a little water, and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook that for a minute.
- Stir in the coconut milk and add the chickpeas too, allow them to cook for about a minute.
- Add the lentils and the vegetable stock and stir thoroughly, bringing everything to a boil.
- Allow everything to cook, bubbling gently, for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the lentils are cooked.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach, until it has wilted down.
- Stir in the lemon juice and add salt to season, if necessary.
- When serving sprinkle some chopped coriander over the top.