Pumpkin and red lentil dahl (FODMAP friendly)
Need a quick, easy and healthy mid-week dinner recipe?
I have eaten more dahls than I could possibly count. Growing up in a vegetarian community that valued simple sustainable food, dhal was like bread and butter to us! It's cheap, easy, quick and there are endless variations to be made. I have amazing ones and boring ones but as long as the lentils are properly cooked I'll always happily eat a bowl of dhal. It's like a dear friend you can always rely on even when you are broke and in a rush. It will always be there for you as a quick, cheap and easy dinner.
However, my partner Che started on the FODMAP diet and now can't eat onion, garlic or much lentils so dhal was quickly off the menu. Along with a whole lotta of other things! Garlic is my life (as anyone who has tasted my cooking would know) and I have really struggled cooking at home without it. Lucky I love him. A lot. I compensate when I making meals just for me and add as much garlic as humanly possible. Poor Che just has too look on longingly and enjoy my garlic breath!
Not being able to cook family meals with so many of the staples including gluten and legumes, as well as onion and garlic, means many simple and cheap plant based meals are off the menu. I am also trying for the first time in life to live by a budget (trying being the operative word!). So we eat a lot or rice. However I love legumes and they are super cheap so I was determined to come up with a recipe that was FODMAP friendly. And this is the result. I am pretty happy to be honest and you would be hard pressed to know it does contain garlic and onion.
I have tried to me careful with the amount of lentils per serve to make sure it is within the safe amounts as per Monash's guidelines and I also cook the lentils separately and drain the water. As there are a million dhal recipes out there I thought I'd make the main recipe here a FODMAP friendly one. If you are not on the FODMAP diet, by all means add some chopped garlic and onion when you cook the ginger.
Pumpkin and red lentil dahl (FODMAP friendly)
Prep time: 30 minutes plus extra cooking time
Makes: 5 serves
Dietary guideline: This recipe is vegan and FODMAP friendly. For a non-FODMAP friendly version, see the end of the recipe.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of curry powder (onion and garlic free)*
½ cup/90g of red split lentils
2 Massel chicken style stock cubes
2 teaspoons of of veg oil
2 teaspoons of garlic infused oil
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
1/3 cup of chopped green spring onion
1 cinnamon quill
½ teaspoon of cardamon powder*
1 ½ teaspoons of cumin powder*
½ teaspoon of coriander powder
Pinch of cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 cup coconut cream
¾ cup of chopped or pureed tomatoes
¾ cup of water
300g of peeled and chopped (2cm) Japanese pumpkin
1 teaspoon of Kasoori Methi (dried fenugreek leaves) -optional
Optional garnishes and sides
Fried tofu
Fresh chilli
Fresh coriander
Grated coconut
Vegan or fructose free yoghurt
GF flat bread
*A note on spices
With the exception of pre-mixed spices such as curry paste, I roast and grind my own spices. This way they stay fresh and have already had that raw spice flavour cooked out and their lovely aromas released. I toast off small batches of each spice in a small fry pan until they take on some colour and then whizz to a powder in my spice grinder. I store any left over ground spices in small amounts in jars to use throughout the week. I have written this recipe assuming most people will just use raw pre-ground spices as thats the simplest way but if you are keen, try it my way. You can then skip the step of dry roasting the spice powders (I still recommend dry roasting the curry powder).
Method
Bring the lentils, 1 of the stock cubes and 2 cups of water to the boil in a small saucepan. Simmer until the lentils become soft – about 15 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
In a medium saucepan place the vegetable oil, garlic oil, ginger, spring onion and cinnamon quill and cook on a low heat stirring frequently for about five minutes or until the ginger takes on a little colour and starts to go golden and stick to the bottom of the pan (if too much sticks to the bottom remove the pan from the heat for a few minutes and the residual heat with help soften what has stuck to the bottom.
Meanwhile in a small fry pan gently dry roast the curry powder (if you are using raw pre-ground cumin, coriander and cardamon add them to the curry powder now) stirring constantly for a few minutes – just until it starts to darken slightly. Add this to the ginger mix along with a pinch of cinnamon and cook for another few minutes. You can then scape the bottom of the pan with a wooded spoon to loosen it.
Add the tomato paste, the remaining spices, chopped tomatoes, cooked lentil, ¾ cup of water and the last stock cube. Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes. Add the pumpkin and coconut cream and simmer on a very low heat stirring occasionally until the pumpkin is soft. Add more water along the way if it starts to get too thick. Taste and adjust for seasoning if needed. You may like to add a teaspoon of maple syrup as FODMAP dhal does not have any sweetness from the onions.
Garnish with fresh coriander, chilli, crispy tofu and coconut and serve with rice, fructose free yoghurt, gluten free flat bread.
Non FODMAP friendly adaptation: Skip the garlic oil and add I diced onion and 2 crushed cloves of garlic to the pan when cooking the ginger. There is no need to cook the lentils first in stock. Just add the lentils into the dhal at step 4 along with an extra cup of water (more as needed). Just use 1 stock cube unless you like a richer and salter Dahl, in which case add 2.
