Celebrate Diwali Festival with this Delicious Dhal Tadka Recipe!

Happy Diwali, mamas! Today we’re celebrating the Hindu Festival of Lights, and to go with it, we bring you a tasty homemade recipe to load up your dinner table. Don’t worry about scaring off the little ones – this recipe is low on spice and a great introduction to Indian food for kids! 

The hearty recipe blends eastern spices with a warming dhal featuring the best of Indian flavours – warming ginger, garlic, coconut milk and fragrant spice (all super ingredients at fighting off coughs and colds, and ideal for the back to school season too!). A great way of making sure your little ones have protein without overloading on meat, this heart-warming dish is delicious with rice or naan bread and a dollop of plain yoghurt on the side. Let’s get cooking! 

Ingredients:

• 200 g split moong dhal
• 200 g masoor dhal
• 3 carrots finely chopped
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 3 cm piece chopped fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 2 teasps turmeric
• 4 teasp nigella (onion) seeds
• 1 teasp ground coriander
• 1 teasp ground cumin
• 1 teasp roughly ground mixed curry spices (south african malay mix)
• 1 level teasp salt
• 1 organic stock cube
• 1 can of good coconut milk optional

Directions:

• Wash and soak the lentils whilst preparing the veggies
• In a large saucepan place the chopped carrots, onions, garlic, ginger and all the spices except for the stock cube.
• Sweat [Sweat =  to slowly cook chopped vegetables in butter or oil in turn drawing out their rich flavours – used typically in soup, sauce and risotto bases – sofritto in Italian] gently for 15 mins in a covered pan over a low to medium heat.
• Drain dhal and add to vegetables stirring to coat each lentil with flavour.
• Add the coconut milk and 1 can of water.
• Stir in the dissolved stock cube.
• Simmer on a low heat until the dhal is very soft, about 30 minutes.  If the dhal sticks add 2-3 tablespoons water.

Need more Diwali inspiration? Check out our guide here!