Indian-Spiced Chana Dal (lentils) with Kale and Summer Squash

I got home today from a week-long trip to Western New York to see my family, opened my fridge, and found two drawers and a shelf overflowing with farm share veggies. This definitely ranks high on the “list of great things to come home to,” particularly on a Sunday when I’ve got time to make a big dinner.

We seemed to have a plethora of kale and summer squash, so I decided to base my meal on those two items. The farm share newsletter included a Cook’s Illustrated recipe from 1995 (!) for indian-spiced lentils and kale which I used as inspiration….and with a few additions and changes, dinner emerged.

Indian-Spiced Chana Dal with Kale & Summer Squash
(serves….3? I was awfully hungry tonight, you might be able to stretch this to four with side dishes, or if you aren’t quite as ravenous as I was.)

1 cup chana dal (or other type of lentil; see below)
olive oil
1 TB of butter
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 inch piece of ginger, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds (could substitute powdered mustard instead, probably a tsp or so)
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp coriander
salt & pepper to taste
red pepper flake to taste
2 or so cups of summer squash, chopped into half-moons (I used one medium and one small yellow squash)
1 bunch kale, chopped in one-inch pieces. (Separate stems from leaves as best you can.)

A note on chana dal: chana dal is popular in Indian cooking and generally available at Indian grocers. It holds its shape well, and has a nutty, buttery flavor. Chickpeas are probably the closest readily available substitute, although I think french lentils or even red lentils would be fine substitutes in this dish, depending on what you’re in the mood for. I’ll give instructions for cooking the chana dal; if you substitute something else just modify your cooking time as necessary.

Add one cup chana dal to 7 cups water and a generous amount of salt. Bring to boil, cook for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to medium and simmer until tender (35-45 minutes, perhaps more) stirring occasionally. (Note: a purist would say you need to soak the chana dal for several hours or overnight. I’m sure you’d get softer, more tender and perhaps faster cooking dal that way, but it’s rare I have the patience or foresight to soak my dal in advance.)

In the meantime, add one onion, chopped, to a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Saute until they turn golden brown, then add the garlic and ginger. Fry a minute or so, then add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. (These can be dropped from the recipe, substituting powdered mustard and increasing the powdered cumin slightly, if you have to; though I suspect the flavor won’t be as rich.)

Fry another minute or two, then add the powdered spices, salt, and pepper. The red pepper flakes are strictly optional. (I prefer my indian food on the mild side, so I left them out entirely…but if you’d like to kick the heat up a notch or two, this is how to do it.)

A note on measuring spices in indian cooking (or, really, all cooking): giving exact measurements on spices always feels a little silly. I rarely measure precisely, and often add a little more of a spice along the way. A little more or less won’t make a huge difference (when you’re talking about things like cumin and coriander, at least….red pepper flakes or anything spicy-hot is another story!), and it really depends on how potent your spices are anyway. If you’ve got fairly new spices that you know to be strongly flavored, you may want to use a little less. If your spices are older and losing their flavor a bit, (you can often tell by smell), you may need more. If you really really like cumin, use some more of that. Taste frequently along the way (a bonus for cooking vegetarian – no salmonella to worry about here), get to know your spices, and when in doubt, trust your gut.

Okay, now that we’ve covered the art (rather than the science) of measuring your spices, back to the recipe:

After another minute, add 1 TB of butter and the summer squash.

Saute for 10 minutes, then add the kale stems on top of the squash. Saute another 5-10 minutes, until tender and golden brown.

Add chopped kale on top, but don’t stir it into the dish just yet. Let the squash continue to brown while steaming the kale by covering the dish with a lid.

At this point, your frying pan might start to get a bit dry. If so, add a few spoonfuls of the chana dal cooking liquid as needed to keep the food from sticking.

Steam the kale for 5-7 minutes, then stir it into the mixture. Continue to cook, covered, adding chana dal cooking liquid as needed, until the kale is tender.

Drain the chana dal, reserving the cooking liquid. Add dal to pan, mix, adding about a cup or so of the cooking liquid as needed.

Taste, and add more salt or other seasoning as needed.  A side of plain yoghurt makes a good accompaniment to this meal.

I won’t know for sure till tomorrow, but I’m guessing this will taste even better the next day! (Most food that’s heavily spiced does, I think.)

~ Melissa