I have always loved dahl. Its deeply warming and satisfying, and comes in so many variations.
This dahl with wild spices recipe uses hedgerow seeds to make a truly heavenly dish.
Even though I am blowing my own trumpet, I have to say this simple dahl recipe surpassed even my expectations.
We have some truly divine wild spices in our hedgerows!
Over the Autumn I collected rock samphire, wild fennel, wild mustard and alexanders seeds, combined them with some dried pine needle shoots (think rosemary) and a little turmeric and you have a dahl recipe mix that will have your tongue slapping about wanting more.
Wild Spices Recipes Part 1: Dahl Mix
- 2 medium onions (finely chopped)
- 3 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
- 1 red pepper (chopped)
- 1 fresh red chili (chopped, seeds & all)
- 1 cup of dried red lentils
- 2½ cups of water
Wild Spices Recipes Part 2: Wild Spice Mix
- ½ tsp rock samphire seeds (ground)
- ¼ tsp wild fennel seeds (ground)
- ½ tsp alexanders seeds (ground)
- ½ tsp wild mustard seeds (ground)
- ½ tsp dried pine shoots (finely chopped)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- salt & pepper
Grind and mix together all the spices into a course powder. Use as instructed below.
Wild Spices Recipes Instructions
- Fry onions until translucent, then add the Wild Spice mix along with the garlic, red pepper, red chili and continue frying until the onion starts to brown.
- Add the lentils, stir quickly to coat them in the mixture, then add 2 cups of water.
- Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer until the lentils have dissolved into a thick sauce. You may need more water, so keep an eye on the dahl.
- Serve on its own or with rice or chapati or bread.