Comfort Lentil Dal


Remember my beautiful yellow leaved tree? It's totally naked now.

I've been wearing my winter jacket to work for two weeks now. I've also been climbing into bed before 8 pm and craving comfort foods so badly I've considered tossing a heaping bowl of pasta with melted Halloween candy just to save time and effort. In the honest and wise words of my papa, “it all goes to the same place”.

True that.

As strangely delicious as Reese's pasta sounds, it's wayyy too early to start indulging in filthy excuses for comfort food. That's why when I saw the recipe for lentil dal in the September issue of Cooking Light, I ripped it out and quickly got cooking. I knew the lentils would fill me up, and the Indian themed spices would pack good warming flavor.

I've eaten an embarrassing amount of this in the last month—which, unfortunately is also true of my Halloween candy. Hey, at least one of those nutrition choices is a winter indulgence I'm ok with.

Lentil Dal
Modified from Cooking Light

Ingredients
5 cups water, divided
¾ cup dried small lentils
1 tablespoon canola oil
¾ cup chopped white onion
½ tablespoon minced ginger
½ tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon curry powder
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1-2 large handfuls spinach, chopped

Directions
1. Combine 3 cups water and lentils in a bowl. Let stand for 20 minutes, then drain.
2. In a large pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 3 minutes.
3. Add ginger, garlic, all spices and jalapeno. Saute for 30 seconds.
4. Add lentils and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 23 minutes. Stir often.
5. Stir in spinach and cook 1-2 minutes until spinach wilts.

Notes:
Best served over brown rice, not Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

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