One of the things I miss about living D.C. is Rasika--my favoritest Indian restaurant ever. My options for Indian cuisine are rather limited here in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia, so I decided if I wanted Indian I was just going to have to cook it myself.
I picked up some lentils the last time I was at Martin's Farm Market, and I still had some cabbage and onions from Tudor Hall, so this recipe from Madhur Jaffrey via Smitten Kitchen seemed to fit the bill. I knew I was going to have to run to the store to fetch some spices and considered picking up some frozen Naan(let's be honest, what is an Indian meal sans Naan?!). Then, I thought about it some more and decided to attempt my baking my own from an About.com recipe. I made slight adaptations to both the Naan and the lentils, but these recipes really don't need any tweaking--they're amazingly delicious and I'm super excited about leftovers tonight!
Masoor Dal aur Band Gobi
5 Cups - Water
1/2 Teaspoon - Turmeric5 Tablespoons - Oil (olive, canola, or even butter will work)
3 Cloves - Garlic
1- Onion
1 - Small Head of Cabbage
1 - Large Can of Diced Tomato
*Salt and Pepper to Taste- Put the lentils and water into a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Remove any scum that collects at the top.
- Add the turmeric and stir to mix.
- Cover, leaving the lid very slightly ajar, turn heat down to low, and simmer gently for 1 1/4 hours. Stir a few times during the last 30 minutes.
- When the lentils are about 15 minutes from being done, break out a jumbo skillet (I have a Pampered Chef monster) and slowly heat oil.
- Add minced garlic to oil, sautee for a few minutes, and then add sliced onion and shredded cabbage.- Sautee the cabbage and onion mixture until cabbage and onions start to brown, sprinkle in cumin, salt, and pepper.
- Combine cooked lentils and cabbage mixture (I put everything in my jumbo skillet, but the original recipe recommends cooking everything in the lentil pan).
Whole Wheat Naan1 Packet - Yeast
2 Teaspoons - Sugar
2 Teaspoons - Sugar
3/4 Cup - Warm Water
2 Cups - Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon - Salt
1/4 Cup - Crisco
3 Tablespoons - Plain Yogurt
- In small bowl mix water, yeast, and sugar 'til sugar and yeast dissolve.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Add yeast water, yogurt, and Crisco and mix 'til combined (feel free to use your hands towards the end)
- Coat another medium bowl with oil, place dough in bowl and turn to evenly coat.
- Cover bowl with towel and allow to rise in a warm area for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled.
- Preheat oven to 450°F
- Tear off golf ball-sized pieces of dough, place on pizza stone or stoneware baking sheet and use your fingers to stretch into desired shape. If you'd like sprinkle with garlic and parsley at this point.
- Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd from the top, and insert naan.
- Bake 13 minutes or until browned on top.
1 comment:
With respect, the tweaks you made to the dal include using a whole tin of tomatoes rather than 1 medium (fresh) tomato and removing the bulk of the salt (though admittedly the recipe as presented by Ms Perelman aka Smitten Kitchen is to my taste over-salted). I think you are a little disingenuous.
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