Cookbook Project: Ok, so now you're a vegetarian

Okay, So Now You're A Vegetarian 
Spiced vegetable dal p 166

This was my first vegetarian cookbook, and it's often a gift for newbie vegetarians. Since I only owned two cookbooks when I met my husband, and he wanted to try cooking meals with me, we made several out of this book. it's an excellent first cookbook, with clear, complete easy to read instructions.


I don't have a picture of the finished Dal, but I'm a big fan of getting all my ingredients together before cooking.  It helps avoid frantic moments of "OMG THE GINGER NEEDS TO BE CHOPPED AND SO DO THE TOMATOES!!!! AND EVERYTHING IS BURNING."

So the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry lentils
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp peeled, minced, fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• pinch of ground tumeric
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 2 14.5 oz cans vegetable broth (I used 4 cups of water and bullion)
• 3 ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (skipped this - I'm too cheap to buy spices)
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 4 cups hot cooked white rice (I used brown and it was just as good.)  

Procedure:

1. Rinse the lentils and pick through them.  
2. Heat butter and oil in a heavy pot on medium heat; add ginger, garlic, onion, and saute for 10 minutes.  Add cumin, cloves, and tumeric; cook for another 2 minutes.  
3. Stir in the lentils and the broth, bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.  
4. Add the tomatoes and parsley. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes, until lentils are soft.  (I actually simmered for longer, since the rice cooker was taking awhile.)
5. Place 1 cup rice on each place, spoon the dal over the rice and serve.  

Verdict: 

Yum!  I will definitely be making this again when we get tomatoes from our CSA.  It takes a little while, but it's largely unattended.