Basic Dahl

Phillip and I have made this Dahl at least 3 times in the last 2 weeks. We ate it with bread twice (Phillip's favorite, like the South African "bunny chow") and we ate it with rice once. Soon, we hope to try some sort of naan-ish flat bread on our skillet.

• 1 T. sesame oil or, alternatively, olive or vegetable oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 T. finely chopped fresh ginger (or powder if you don't have fresh)
  
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth (we have used the little"maggi" cubes)
  
• 1 cup dried lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 t. cumin
• 1 t. coriander
• 1 t. tumeric
• ¼ t. cardamom
• ¼ t. cinnamon
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper
• 1 t. salt, or to taste (we don't use salt when using the maggi cube, those things are salty!)
  
• 2 T. tomato paste (not sure what you have in Uganda, but we use a whole one of those little 1 inch high tins of paste)

Heat up the oil. When its hot, put in the onion, garlic, and ginger.
Cook them until the onions are clear, stirring often.
Add the water or broth, lentils, spices and salt.
Bring to a low boil, then turn down the heat to low, cover and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are very tender.
Stir in the tomato paste. Cook several minutes more, or until the soup is desired temperature and consistency, adding more water to the dahl if needed.

One time we didn't have the paste, so we just left it out and added carrots to the mix. You can leave it more watery if you want it like soup, or let it get pretty dry. Its a great basic recipe to experiment with.