Ahhh, January. Yesterday, with constant rain just above the freezing point, two kids who are still clocking West Coast time, and no babysitter now that our part time sitter has found full-time work, it was the perfect day to put on the dhal.
For the first year and a half of her life, my daughter would eat almost anything, but what she preferred was Indian food. She would eat it pretty spicy, too, and it amused us to no end when she wanted curries every day and would grunt with pleasure when she tasted them. The Indian babysitters that worked in our building would waggle their heads when they saw this and waggle even harder when I mentioned that her name was Mira, after their beloved poet Mira Bhai.
The truth of the matter is, too, that neither my daughter nor I have met a rice and bean that we didn’t like, and so dhal was a simple, healthful thing that I made with some frequency for her from the time she was about 7 months old.
Enter my son, a great eater… but not so much into the spicy things like his sis. Add the fact that Mira, a few months before her brother was born, stopped eating all but about 5 things, including-but certainly not limited to-the lovely curries.
So, here’s a pleasing recipe that I altered from a Maya Kaimal recipe. The original recipe is in her truly yummy and perfectly spicy Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala. I altered the masala, a lot of proportions, and made some kid-friendly choices in their stead. The result is a very very mild dhal that will, most likely, be a hit served over plenty of basmati or brown rice and your mini-chef’s favorite steamed veggies or a small piece of meat. It can even be pureed and fed to babies since it is quite mushy anyway. To please Big People palates or more adventuresome mini-palates, heat up a bit of oil or butter (or, even better, ghee!) over a low flame and throw in some dried red chilies. Let the chilis infuse the oil with their heat, and let anyone with the inclination, spoon it on top of their dhal.
Simple Dhal, Not Too Spicy
*2-3 t. fresh ginger, peeled and minced or grated
*2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
*3 large shallots, finely chopped
*1 c. red lentils
*2 1/4 c. water
*2 T. vegetable oil, such as canola or grape seed oil
*1/2 t. mustard seeds
*3/4 t. cumin
*1/4 t. turmeric
*1 t. salt
*juice from 1/2 a lemon (preferably a Meyer lemon)
Big Person: Prepare and the first three ingredients before you begin cooking with your mini-chef so that everything will be ready to go.
Together: Place the lentils in a large bowl. Cover the lentils with cold water, and let your mini-chef swirl the water around with their hands. The water, with this first water, will be very cloudy. Big Person will dump out the cloudy water, and again cover the lentils with fresh water. Your mini-chef will swirl. Dump. Cover. Swirl. Repeat until the water is no longer cloudy when you swirl. Strain the lentils as best you can. Now, put those into a medium saucepan with the 2 1/4 cups of water.
Big Person: Cooking over high heat, bring the lentils to a boil and let boil for about a minute. Then, turn the heat down to very low, cover partially, and let cook till a bit mushy, about 30 minutes.
Together: Once you’ve got the lentils cooking over low heat, you can measure out the various spices you’ll be using. First, in a very small bowl, measure the 1/2 t. of mustard seeds. Then in another small bowl, measure out the ground spices: the turmeric and the cumin and give them a little stir.
Before you slice your lemon in two, you can practice rolling the lemon back and forth with your hand and pressing on it so that the juice will more easily be released. It’s a lot of fun for a mini-chef, so have them do it for as long as they’re interested and then Big Person will slice the lemon. Juice one half of it and save the other half for another project.
Big Person: When the lentils have finished cooking, take them off of the heat and set them aside.
In a frying pan, heat up your oil over med-high heat. Throw in the mustard seeds and stand back. If you have a splatter guard, this is the time to break it out. You will hear the seeds popping for a while and then the popping will cease. That’s when you know it’s time to add the shallots into the pan. Stirring constantly, saute the shallots till they’re medium brown, and then add in the spice mixture. Cook, still stirring, another minute. Add in the garlic and the ginger, turn the heat off, and let cook (yes, still stirring) another minute. Take the pan off the heat, and immediately stir this mixture into the cooked lentils.
Add the salt and another 1/2 c. of water and let the dhal simmer for another 10-15 minutes, till it hasn’t dried out but isn’t watery either. At the last, stir in the lemon juice, to brighten the flavor.
Over the weekend here there were threats of a big snowstorm that would snuggle the City under a few inches of snow. For a girl who grew up in the South, in a place where snow happened about three or four times in eighteen years, an actual biggish storm still seems so glamorous and romantic. 
