Lemon, Tomato & Cardamom Dhal

We make dhal at least once a week through the colder months of the year. This one, though, has a fresher feeling that means I’d be as happy eating it on a summer eve as I would a winter night. If you make this in autumn or winter you could leave out the fresh tomatoes and replace with some grated squash for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Ingredients

For the dhal:

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped (de-seeded if you like)

1 green chilli, finely chopped (de-seeded if you like)

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon black mustard seeds

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

The seeds from 6 cardamom pods, ground

200g dried split red lentils, washed

1 x 400ml tin coconut milk

500ml vegetable stock

100g baby spinach, washed

4 ripe vine tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 unwaxed lemons

16 fresh curry leaves (optional)

1 teaspoon coconut oil (optional)

For the topping:

100g toasted cashew nuts

1 green chilli (de-seeded if you like)

½ unwaxed lemon

A small bunch of coriander

Method

Heat the coconut oil in a deep saucepan and fry the onions over a medium heat with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes, stirring regularly until they start to soften. Add the chillies and cook for another couple of minutes until everything in the pan is soft and fragrant. Add the cumin, coriander and mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds start to pop, stir in the ground turmeric and cardamom.