Indian Food

Today I made my first real, delicious Indian meal.  I have to say, I was excited!  Everyone except Samantha loved it, but she was still mad from having to do math all morning, so I say it doesn't really count.  Hooray!  I made Masoor Daal with white rice and curds.  Here is the recipe, for those of you who are wanting to try something new, or if you just want to check out what we are eating.


Masoor Daal

Ingredients

• 1 cup lentils (I used orange, but there are about 20 colors here to choose from) 
• 1 large Carrot, shredded or chopped
• 1.5 inces of fresh ginger root, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 scant teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala (it comes in a powder here, I think you can find it in the states)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 
  
• vegetable oil
• 1 minced onion (the onions here are small and look like purple onions in the US)
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic (I used more because in India the garlic cloves are tiny)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (called Corriander leaves in India) 
• 1 diced tomato

Directions

1. Rinse lentils thoroughly and place in a medium saucepan along with carrot, turmeric, garam masala, salt and cayenne pepper. Cover with about 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender and soupy. You can also do this in a pressure cooker, which is what I did because it takes less time, but most people don't seem to have pressure cookers in the states.  In India, they are a must have kitchen item :)
2. When the beans are almost done, saute the onions in oil until translucent then add garlic, cumin seeds, cilantro and tomatoes.  Saute for about 5 more minutes until the spices are fragrant and set aside.  Add to the lentils right before serving.  
3. Serve with rice (Basmati is a good choice) 
4. If you can find curds, it is like a soupy plain yogurt, it goes really well on the side

I have to admit that I forgot a few of the ingredients (ginger, cilantro and the tomato) but it still tasted GREAT!! So delicious! I had 4 distractions pulling at my feet while I was making lunch, so I think only forgetting 3 ingredients was not bad. :)