Posted on January 15, 2019 by Emily Forbes

Finally did some actual cooking in the van this weekend. I don’t think scrambled eggs or fried tofu counts as actual cooking, which is what I mostly make. Or no-cook dishes like my go-to kale and lentil salad to take with me when I’m out and about. I love lentils if you hadn’t guessed already and there is nothing better than fresh tasting curry dishes. I’ve eaten some really yummy dahl dishes in the last few months so decided to give it a go myself. This yellow split pea dahl recipe was taken from BBC Good Food.

Ingredients:

  • 250g yellow split pea
  • 1 litre water
  • 2 slices of ginger (can leave peel on)
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 red chilli cut into two large pieces
  • 1tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 2cm ginger finely chopped
  • 1/2 red chilli finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp cumin seed
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp garam masala
  • Juice 1/2 lemon
  • 2 tomato chopped (Preferably peeled)
  • Coriander leaf (optional)

Method:

  1. Rinse the split peas until water runs clear.
  2. Boil 1 litre of water, add cinnamon stick, turmeric, chilli pieces and 2 slices of ginger. Simmer for 30-45 minutes (check the packaging of split pea for recommended cooking lengths.)
  3. Heat oil in frying pan and add cumin seed. Fry for 30 seconds and add onion, chilli (add additional chilli here if required), ginger. Fry until onion is soft. Add garlic, coriander, garam masala and salt and fry for further two minutes. Add tomato plus 100ml water and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes. To easily peel the tomato, plunge into boiling water for a few seconds and then very cold water. The skin should come off no problems.
  4. Add spice mix to split pea and stir through. Squeeze in lemon juice and serve topped with coriander leaf.
  5. Eat as a main with rice or as a side.

I’ve never used yellow split peas before. I thought they might “mush” down a bit more. They didn’t and the texture wasn’t quite to my liking so I put them in the blender to blitz them up a bit. For me, it made it much nicer. And this recipe really gave the fresh taste I was looking for. Make sure you don’t leave out the lemon juice, it brings the flavours together. I also like to leave dishes like curry to eat the next day as it gives time for the flavours to really enhance.

As always, tag us in any of the healthy dishes that you make @motive8_north #motive8north