• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • YouTube
TVV-Logo-for-bright-bg

The Viet Vegan

Vegan. Feminist. Nerd.

  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipe Index
  • Work With Me
    • Press

Yellow Dal (Daal? Dahl?)

April 30, 2015 by Lisa Le 13 Comments

Jump to Recipe

Vegan Yellow Dal | The Viet Vegan | Warming spices, big flavour, and cheap to make

As much as I love watching Big Brother and I relish in the drama that happens when you stick 16 people in a house and pit them against each other, I actually do not like drama in real life. My life has been all sorts of drama lately, and I don’t even know what to do with myself. What happened doesn’t even feel real. It feels like a badly written sitcom, where I poop my pants and then get kicked while I’m down. Actually that storyline would be half true. But before I get into the details (well, not THAT detailed), first, I have an exciting announcement!
Yellow Dal

I’m moving!

I’m leaving the Annex of Toronto and moving on to the ‘burbs. Sort of. I’m moving to Mississauga (just west of Toronto, for those not familiar with the GTA) to be closer to my family and to work so I have less of a commute. Oddly enough, it’s the opposite move most people make, considering most people work in the city, as opposed to outside of it. But not this girl. I’m leaving the big city and joining a slightly smaller one.
Yellow Dal

As a result, my life has become akin to the Canadian roads after a long winter (sorry for the cheesy metaphor, but it works). It’s clearer and easier to navigate, but it’s full of potholes that don’t seem so big until I hit one. I got food poisoning (or something) and it hit me while I was in public on the subway 45 minutes from my home. I was mortified. It took me about two days to recover physically, and it will still take me a long while yet to recover from the humiliation. THEN, the day after I had my “accident”, I lost my phone (which I had just upgraded). The people who had it said they’d return it the next morning, only to turn it off and never give it back again. I pined and refreshed Find My iPhone every 20 minutes last weekend and alas, I was heartbroken by the cruelty of humanity.
Yellow Dal

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about how I’m a realist and I’m usually expecting the worst in people. But this past little pothole just showed me that I am a lot more of an optimist than I thought. It was heartbreaking, to realize that these people who had my phone weren’t going to give it back. That they answered my friend’s phone call to my phone asking for my phone back and said they’d return it the next day. The next day, I call every Rogers’ store in the area where I tracked my phone with no luck. While yes, losing a phone can be frustrating, annoying, and a little depressing, it’s not the end of the world, and I knew that. I still know that. This wasn’t the only thing that was on my mind at the time, but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back in my road of potholes and I cracked.
Yellow Dal

I shut down completely.

I’ve never done this before. I shut out everyone, hiding in my room and burying my feelings of shame and sadness and disappointment in myself and the world. My mom got in touch with me the next day and kicked my ass over the phone, saying that there’s no point in crying or being sad or ashamed. I obviously didn’t want to get sick, get humiliated on the subway, and to top it off, lose my brand new phone. But I couldn’t help but feel like she’d be disappointed in me for being weak, emotional, or whatever other thing that would make her disappointed in me. But I don’t know what it was, I was actually so heartbroken that people would take someone’s phone and not give it back.

My mom insisted that I get over it and get it through my head that not everyone has as big of a heart as I do (her words). I don’t herald myself as the kindest person in the world, but I do live by a code of doing no harm and helping others. If the roles were reversed, I would have done everything I could to give the person’s phone back. But the optimist in me really got crushed this past week. I’m a strong believer in karma but I felt unjustly hit by karma by the world this past week.
Yellow Dal

I feel so silly that I’m still this upset over losing my phone. I feel stupid for letting it fall out of my pocket and not noticing. I’ll forever be kicking myself, and a little tiny part of me is hopeful that I’ll get it back.

In the meantime, I’ve been slowly trying to ease my body back into eating real food and not just crackers and water. Whole grains are soothing, and high-fibre foods like lentils make my body happier than it’s been. There’s something so comforting about Indian food, and the wafting fragrant spices that fill my kitchen when I make dal. As one of my university friends said, “Dal = MAD PROTEIN”, which I imagined being said in the bro-est of manners. Dal is delicious. Warm, soothing spices with a small kick of chili, this dal is my favourite poured over some long grain brown rice. Cilantro adds a little peppering of freshness and flavour, while adding some beautiful green colour to this dish.

I’ll be making this a lot before I make the move because I have most of these ingredients already in my pantry. The spices currently in my pantry will probably be tossed during the move, since some of them I’ve had since my first year of undergrad (which was…eek 6 years ago). Spices don’t really go bad, they just go… sad. They dry out and lose flavour within a year, and I totally know that. I’ve used up a lot of them obviously before the 6 year mark, but the odd bag of cinnamon and little canister of ground cloves have been around since before I moved out and it’s probably in my best interest (and yours, since I’m making all these recipes) that I have fresh spices.

I hope your week has been better than mine so far. Mine’s on the uptick so far, but who knows when I’ll hit the next pothole.

Continue to Content
Yield: 4

Yellow Dal (Daal? Dahl?)

Yellow Dal (Daal? Dahl?)

This dal is a household favourite of mine; I make it at least once a month and it's so full of flavour, heartiness, and warmth. The amount of spices may seem daunting but it's so worth it! Feel free to play around with a balance of spices that works for you (no mustard seed? Nr problem. Only have garam masala? No prob! Just use a ton of that instead.)

Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of red lentils
  • 1 medium tomato, diced
  • 3 cups of water
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp fresh minced or grated ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 4-6 dried chili peppers
  • 1/2 tsp black salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Instructions

  1. Pick through red lentils to remove any stones or debris. Wash and drain as much water as you can. In a medium or small pot, add water, tomato and lentils. Once it starts to boil, lower to medium heat to maintain a steady simmer, stirring occasionally to keep the lentils from sticking to the bottom.
  2. Once lentils are almost cooked through (about 15-20 minutes), in a separate pot over medium heat, melt coconut oil and add olive oil. Add black mustard seeds, turmeric powder, grated ginger, coriander, garam masala, cumin, chili peppers, black salt, black pepper, and salt and stir until fragrant and sizzling (about 1 minute). Stir in the onions and stir to coat. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until nearly translucent. Add garlic and continue cooking until fragrant (about another 2 minutes), stirring occasionally.
  3. Add all the spices and onion to the lentil pot and stir to incorporate. Simmer for another 5 minutes to meld all the flavours together. Remove from heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with rice or naan.
© Lisa Le
Cuisine: Vegan / Category: Soups & Stews

Spread the love:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Filed Under: Appetizers & Sides, Dinner, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Soups & Stews, Vegan recipes Tagged With: budget, cheap meals, indian food, lentils, vegan, yellow dal

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Moe says

    April 30, 2015 at 8:47 AM

    Are you okay Lisa?
    Sounds like a terrible week… People can really be pretty heartless sometimes, so sorry about your phone.
    Your mom sounds pretty freaking awesome though!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      April 30, 2015 at 4:43 PM

      I’m not sure I’m okay haha. I’m alive? So there’s that. My mom is pretty awesome, I agree. =)

      Reply
  2. Brenda says

    April 30, 2015 at 9:55 AM

    It’s just so great how, when piled on top of a bunch of other really sucky things, one thing, often more minor than the other things, can be the thing that sets us off completely, and then makes us feel ridiculous for freaking out about that thing, even though we’re not really freaking out about that one thing. Anyway, I’m sorry you had to deal with all that crap, and I hope things have already started to turn right around for you.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      April 30, 2015 at 4:42 PM

      Thanks Brenda =) Glad you understand what I’m going through haha. Here’s to snapping over the small things when really it’s about the big things XD

      Reply
  3. Kristen {good habits and guilty pleasures} says

    May 1, 2015 at 5:46 PM

    This looks so amazing and comforting! Quick question though — if I don’t have black mustard seeds, is it possible to substitute for Dijon or something? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 3, 2015 at 8:51 AM

      I find that other mustard seeds don’t yield the same flavour, but you can substitute any other mustard seed and it’d be fine. =)

      Reply
  4. Bonnie says

    May 2, 2015 at 7:23 PM

    We need more people in the world who are honest and caring. Thanks for being one of the good guys. Great recipes!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 3, 2015 at 8:50 AM

      Thanks Bonnie, I try ^_^

      Reply
  5. Evi @ greenevi says

    May 8, 2015 at 3:59 PM

    This sounds so good, you made me now totally hungry! :)

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 9, 2015 at 1:10 PM

      =) Hope you try the recipe sometime!

      Reply
  6. Judith says

    May 10, 2015 at 5:15 PM

    This was a great recipe; I didn’t have everything on the ingredient list but substituted as best I could, which is really is the way we all should face new recipes. I was out of black mustard seeds but I used 1/4 tsp or so of Keen’s mustard powder as it has quite a kick. I didn’t have garam masala but used a bit more cumin, along with a pinch of both cinnamon and asafoetida powder. I used about 1 TBSP of minced ginger, and about 1/2 tsp regular salt, forgot the pepper, and used one whole frozen jalapeno pepper which I removed before serving. Also, as I am not vegetarian I used homemade ham stock in place of the water just because I have a lot of it on hand at the moment. I am quite sure this dish would be just as good using water or vegetarian stock. Apart from the listed changes, I made the dish exactly as listed and will certainly make it again. Thanks Lisa!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 11, 2015 at 12:21 PM

      I’m glad the recipe worked out for you! I came across black mustard seeds for the first time a couple weeks ago so I knew I had to try some Indian dishes with it =) Thanks for writing!

      Reply
  7. Katie @ Produce On Parade says

    May 15, 2015 at 8:36 PM

    Congratulations on your move! I hope you enjoy the quieter life and dare I say…maybe friendly peeps?? You poor thing. I can’t imagine how you felt after being super sick and losing your phone all while moving is looming on your mind! You’ll get through it! Don’t worry about karma…it’s got your back. Maybe not right now…but you don’t need to worry! ;) Keep that chin up, friend! :)

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome!

Lisa

Xin chào! Welcome to my food blog. Thanks for visiting, reading, and enabling my obsession with food and photography.

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

looking for something?

Recipe index sidebar
YouTube-Graphic-side
Vietnamese recipe index button
  • Popular
  • Recent

Footer

recipe index

Looking for something?

Find me in other places :)

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Find me on YouTube!

View

Mar 3

Open
1 or 2? Finally my vegan char siu bao is here and ready to partaaay! I am so proud of these photos and this recipe, and a huge shout out to @carmyshungry and her partner H for giving me the HOT TIP of using the liquid from the red bean curd for extra ~flavour~Recipe is on the blog, in-depth video for my gnarly looking seitan process and of course deets for this recipe on the YouTube channel! Also a big thank you for everyone who came and chatted with me during the premiere live chat! I definitely hit Premiere by accident but I had a great time hanging with yall this morning.Hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday!!#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes  #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #charsiubao #veganbao #dimsum #vegandimsumRECIPE: https://bit.ly/309YpgF
1689 60
View

Feb 24

Open
It seems like @chez.jorge and I were on a similar wavelength this week because I've been working on this washed flour seitan video 🙈🙈 but the video is here and y'all, you can make seitan with JUST flour and water!!
🤯
Check out the recipe on my blog and video on the channel!!#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes https://bit.ly/37Lc69T #whatveganseat #washedflourseitan #washedflourmethod #seitan #hailseitan
1824 59
View

Feb 9

Open
My body got really mad at me for overdoing it on the salt last week so lately all I've been craving is fresh veggies. I piled on my vegan egg salad over some salad greens with tomatoes, cucumber, sunflower seeds, and coconut bacon.
🥗
It's a pretty hearty salad that hit the protein hard with a hearty dose of eggy flavour! Eddie thinks I'm a little weird for eating tofu egg salad like this but sometimes you don't feel like bread (I know, me? Not want bread?!)
🥗
If you want the recipe, I have a swipe up in my stories and you can find the recipe on my blog! (http://bit.ly/2wLWMr3) we make this once every few weeks for meal prep for Eddie and for when I am too scatterbrained to remember to make lunch 😅
🥗
#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #bestofvegan #veganlunchideas #veganlunch #mealprep #veganmealprep
372 5
View

Feb 3

Open
New recipe is live!! Y'all know me and my love for dumplings and these red curry flavoured dumplings are up on the channel and the blog.
🥟
I feel like I could have improved the camera angle for capturing the dumpling folding but honestly seeing it from this angle to see what your hands are supposed to do is helpful too. Either way, go have a watch and I'd love to see your dumpling creations (bonus if you wanna challenge yourself and try braided dumplings!)
🥟
Have you tried braided dumplings before? It was actually really satisfying to really get a handle of it in the end. Swipe up in my stories for a video link and the recipe! (Recipe: https://bit.ly/3rhcg08)
🥟
#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes  #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #lunarnewyear #dumplings #🥟 #vegandumplings
1052 24
View

Jan 27

Open
I love having mock meats around but tofu will always have a soft spot in my heart! So many different types of tofu and so many different textures can be achieved, but honestly one of the most regular uses for firm tofu in our house is making tofu egg breakfast sandos with it!I have a recipe on my blog for these sandwiches (https://thevietvegan.com/vegan-egg-mcmuffins/) and they are deliciously eggy with this black salt marinade! Eddie makes this all the time, and often doesn't even bother with marinade sometimes, he just sprinkles black salt and pepper on top after frying both sides in the cast iron.I teamed up with some other fellow vegan creators who are sharing their tofu tips today so go check em out!✨ @muriellebanackissa made Sweet and Spicy Nooch Coated Tofu⁠
✨ @plantbasedkristy made Shredded Tofu Magic⁠
✨ @plentyfullvegan made Tofu Feta⁠
✨ @thecanadianafrican made Suya Tofu Skewers⁠
✨ @twomarketgirls made Crispy Herby Tofu Croutons!#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #bestofvegan #veganfood #tofurecipes
1188 39
View

Jan 24

Open
AD - Vegan satay with luscious, spiced peanut sauce and crunchy, stinky, umami green papaya salad? Yes please! Eddie thoroughly enjoyed my recipe tests for this recipe and promptly smothered this peanut sauce over anything and everything.
🍱
Recipe and video are on the blog and YouTube channel, please check it out and enjoy the new filming setup that I've been doing lately :) I think this makes for a much better video filmed this way!
🍱
I made this satay recipe as a collab with @monbento to show a delicious lunch idea that you can meal prep ahead of time! Y'all know I am a sucker for delicious food in my bento box, so I'm so jazzed that monbento gave me a code to save y'all 10%.
🍱
Use code THEVIETVEGAN10 on top of the sales happening right now to get you an adorable bento!
🍱
https://youtu.be/81kveoAtS8o
🍱
#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #bentobox #veganbento #monbento #vietvegan #bestofvegan #veganfoodshare
1212 19
View

Jan 20

Open
I swear I'm not just a bread account, my diet is like 1/3 noodles, 1/3 soup, 1/3 bread, but my IS IT WORTH THE SPACE video for my second-hand @osterkitchen bread slicer is now live on the channel! JUST LOOKIT THOSE SLICES, FAM!
🍞
Swipe in stories to watch or just head on over to the ol YouTube channel because you've subscribed to my videos there, right? 🥺
🍞
But seriously, non-bread recipes are coming imminently, haha. In the meantime, please enjoy a video where I'm talking about kitchen appliances for 8 min.
🍞
#thevietvegan #sourdoughbread #flourwatersalt #breadmaking #sourdough #sourdoughdiscard #thevietveganrecipes https://youtu.be/SNZw2huZDJs
905 33
View

Jan 16

Open
My latest YouTube video with my recipe for EZ PZ sourdough bread is live. No need to wait for a levain, no autolyze, and no super wet, sticky dough or gummy bread!
🍞
I've been thoroughly enjoying all this bread and how consistently delicious it has been! Please go give it a watch to hear me wax and wane about bread, or check out the blog post for a video with no talking, only bread 😂
🍞
#thevietveganrecipes https://youtu.be/Y9R2Ivw1tgQ #thevietvegan #sourdough #sourdoughbread #flourwatersalt #masamadre #breadmaking #veganfoodshare #bestofvegan #veganbaking
639 14
View

Jan 13

Open
Just a new What I Eat In a Day vlog where I make many bready things and get extremely excited about my new water bottle 🤣Featuring the vegan spicy negi ramen kit from @crafty_ramen (gifted), my go-to daal, sourdough naan experiments and discard bread experiments!It's live on the channel now 😊
https://youtu.be/QuagXSKuknE#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #whatieatinaday #kwvegansociety #hamiltonvegan #hamont #veganfood #veganuary2021
1105 31
View

Jan 9

Open
Henlo it's been a very busy week on my end but I've been working hard to try to get back up to 2x a week uploads again. So last week I posted two bookish videos and today I posted my sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies!
🍪
Crisp edges, chewy centre, crunchy flakes of @maldonsalt on top...MMM. A perfect way to use up some sourdough discard!
🍪
Video is up on the channel, and recipe is on the blog🥰https://bit.ly/2LilQk3#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #sourdoughdiscard #sourdough #🍪
730 18
TVV logo

Copyright© 2021 · The Viet Vegan · All rights reserved

  • Recipe Index
  • Privacy Policy
  • Work With Me
  • Press