Red cumin lentils

Lentils are fantastic cooked in the steam oven.

The great thing about cooking a lentil dish or dahl in the steam oven is that you now don’t have to worry about it catching on the base of the pot!  Anyone who has ever cooked dahl will understand and appreciate this.  The last time we tried this recipe on the stove top it not only caught on the base but was too dry and gluggy.  As the steam oven adds moisture whilst cooking this wasn’t a problem anymore and the result was really light and ‘fluffy’.

This is our favourite recipe which I have adapted from the old Bathers Pavilion cookbook and substantially reduced the quantity of fat.  This lentil dish packs a punch with the spice paste, lime juice and fish sauce and is really delicious with roast meat, chicken or curries.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion
knob of ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 large green chillies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups red split lentils
2½ cups beef stock
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp fish sauce

Method:

1. Peel and roughly chop the onion, ginger, garlic and chillies
2. Place them all into a food processor.  Add the cumin and process until you have a paste.  You may need to add a little water.
3. Heat the oil in a shallow casserole that will fit into the steam oven over a low heat.
4. Add the paste and fry until fragrant, about 10 minutes.
5. While the paste is frying, place the lentils in a fine sieve and rinse under running water for a few minutes.  I like to do this a few times.
6. Add to shallow casserole with the stock.
7. Place into the steam oven @ 100°C for 15 minutes
8. Remove from steam oven and add the lime juice and fish sauce.  Taste, adjust seasoning if necessary with a little more fish sauce or lime juice.

Keep warm until ready to serve.