Hedden Family Recipes

Lentils

Adapted from the recipe of Madhur Jaffrey:

Jaffrey, Madhur. 1973. An Invitation to Indian Cooking, p. 208. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-394-71191-2.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry lentils
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled but not sliced
• 2 slices peeled fresh ginger, no more than 1 inch in diameter and ⅛ inches thick
• 1 Tablespoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• Zucchini or eggplant or green beans or any other vegetable available and desired (optional)
• ¾ lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon ground hing (asafetida)
• 2-3 curry leaves
• Mushrooms, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Put on rice
2. Wash lentils and drain.
3. In a large pot, combine lentils, 6 cups of water, cinnamon stick, bay leave, garlic cloves, ginger slices, and turmeric. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer 30-45 minutes.
4. Chop any vegetables that you want and add them now.
5. Clean off lemon carefully and slice into 5 or 6 rounds. Remove seeds. Put lemon slices, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper into pot, stir, cover, and simmer another 5-10 minutes.
6. Just before serving, heat vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add cumin seeds, hing, and curry leaves. When the cumin seeds darken, remove oil mixture from heat or, if using mushrooms, add them now and and sauté them until they are soft. Stir lentils so that there is no free water on the surface. Hold hot oil mixture over pot of lentils, avert face from pot, and pour into pot. Stir oil mixture into lentils.
7. Serve over rice.