Orphans Kitchen Butternut Dhal

We’ve managed to get our hands on Tom Hishons delicious Butternut Dhal recipe – it’s perfect for these cooler nights! Here’s what Tom has to say about it:

“Like many others, I made a lot of comfort food at home during the four weeks at level 4 isolation. Dhal in particular made a regular appearance on our weekly menu. What I love about dhal is both its rich warmth of savoury and spice and how easy it is to make large quantities in a single pot not to mention its gut healing goodness being high in prebiotics and fibre. At home my wife and I eat it with garlic sourdough toast, or jasmine rice, plus a spoonful of tart yoghurt on top. Our 11 month old daughter Claudia adores it too so that’s a big win.”

Serves 4-6 as a main

Ingredients:

300g onion (1-2 onions), diced
200g carrots (roughly 2 carrots), diced
100ml extra virgin olive oil (EVO)*
400g butternut, diced 1cm
1 bay leaf*
200g celery (1-2 stalks), diced
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
10g ginger, microplane / grated
50g tomato paste
30g spice mix (see below)
400g dried split red lentils, soaked for 1hr in cold water
2 tins chopped tomatoes
800g filtered water
2 C jasmine rice, to serve 

Spice Mix:
1 Tbsp cumin seed*
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp fennel seed
1 Tbsp black peppercorns
2 Tbsp turmeric powder

Method:

1. Toast the whole spices in a dry cast iron pan on a medium to high heat until fragrant. Cool, then grind to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. Fold through the powdered turmeric.

2.  Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf and EVO to a large heavy based pot and begin to sweat on a medium heat until onions are translucent.   

3. Add the diced carrots, celery, ginger and butternut. Increase the heat and continue to stir.

4. Add spice mix, tomato paste and coat the vegetables in this paste before adding the soaked and rinsed lentils, chopped tomatoes and filtered water.

5. Bring back to a simmer and continue to cook for a further 35 minutes until lentils are tender and the tomato has broken down to form a gravy like consistency.

6. Rinse your rice through a strainer or colander then add rice to a large pot of boiling water and boil uncovered for 30 minutes. Drain, then add back into the pot with the lid on (off heat) for 5 minutes to ‘steam’. Fluff up with a fork when you’re ready to serve.

7. Season dhal with salt and serve with plenty of virgin olive oil, fresh herbs from the garden and your fragrant jasmine rice.

 *Item available in any of your local GoodFor stores.

Printable recipe PDF here.