It’s no secret that we adore Indian Food, and one of the reasons is that we never miss the presence of meat. This Red Lentil Dhal is delightfully rich and has marvelous depth of flavor while touting a healthful ingredients list of lentils, some coconut milk, herbs, and lots of warm spices. It’s layers of flavor include sweet and spicy, earthy and hot (not too hot). Grab some grilled naan or pita and be prepared for a truly exotic dinner hour.

The flavor starts here, with cumin and mustard seeds, curry and chile powders, a cinnamon stick, ground cumin, and some vibrant turmeric:

Jalapeno, garlic, ginger, and some lemon at the finish add even more to this impressive flavor profile.

Toasting the seeds brings out their oils and flavors. Your kitchen will smell wildly exotic. The bulk section of Sprouts is a good place to get small amounts of spices if you don’t think you’ll use them often enough to warrant purchasing entire jars.

This is one of the first Indian dishes we made (thanks to my old neighbor AND relative, JoAnn) and it remains in our top 3 favorites for a reason.

Red lentils can vary in size a bit and Trader Joe’s even sells a halved or split red lentil. These will cook faster and result in a less hearty texture – a matter of personal preference and we enjoy either texture.

We use chicken or vegetable stock in place of water for even more flavor. A little coconut milk for richness:

We’re going to refer you to Dana for this recipe (thanks, Dana!). As we mentioned before, the only modification we make here at TAC is to replace the 2 cups water with vegetable or chicken stock (please use Kitchen Basics, it’s BY FAR the best – unsponsored). You may end up using the whole box (4 cups) of stock, depending on how thick or thin you prefer your dhal. The recipe calls for cooking the lentils for about 15 minutes, which may be true if you’re using smaller lentils or the halved or split lentils we talked about from Trader Joe’s. Full-size lentils may take closer to 30 minutes to soften.

Let your kids squeeze lemon juice into the final product. As you prepare and enjoy this meal with those you love, teach them a few things about some of the ingredients:

• Turmeric has curcumin, which can help with inflammation.
• Coconut milk has lots of fiber, which helps keep the sugars in your blood at a healthy level.
• Red lentils contain tons of folate, which can help prevent obesity.

Let’s learn a few things about India and it’s people:

• Many households consist of brothers, plus their wives and children.
• Indians eat an unleavened bread that they cook on a griddle and brush with butter or oil called chapati.
• India is home of the smallest pigs, which only weigh 10 pounds.