Dal Explained: A beginner's guide to cooking with lentils
- by S R
Wholefoods & Cooking · 3 Min Read
Dal Explained: A Beginner's Guide to Cooking With Lentils
One pot, a few spices, and whichever lentil is already in your pantry.
Dal looks simple and it is. Lentils simmered until soft, finished with a few warm spices. But the result can be thin and soupy or thick and stew-like, depending on which lentil you use.
Getting dal right, without the guesswork
A few small habits make the difference. Rinse your lentils, add turmeric early, and hold off on salt until the lentils have softened.
A quick tempering of onion, garlic and cumin, stirred in at the end, makes the biggest difference in the whole recipe.
Serves 4
Simple Turmeric Red Lentil Dal
A warm, everyday dal that comes together in one pot with pantry spices. No soaking required.
- 1 cup Organic Red Split Lentils, rinsed
- 3 cups water or stock
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp oil or ghee
- Natural Fine Sea Salt, to taste
- Fresh coriander, to finish
Short on time or new to cooking with pulses? Swap the red split lentils for a scoop of our Soup Mix, a ready-blended mix of lentils and beans that cooks up into dal just as easily.
Ways to serve it
A few easy ways to make dal the whole meal:
Make dal a few times with one lentil, then switch it up. That is the easiest way to build real confidence in the kitchen.
- Posted in:
- Beginner Cooking
- beginners
- beginners guide to cooking
- brown lentils
- dal
- green lentils
- How to guide
- lentils
- organic lentils
- red split lentils
- sustainable eating
- Sustainable Food
- sustainable living
- Versatile Ingredient





