Dal Festival Inspiration

rows of lentil plants grown flanked by a mixture of fruit, nut and willow trees

Last weekend was an absolute blast. I spent the Saturday at Wakelyn’s Organic/Agroforestry farm in the Waveney Valley, Suffolk, demoing at their dal festival. Wakelyns currently grow three types of lentils, but the festival focussed on the two they grew in 2022 – a black beluga lentil and a coral lentil which is sold (via the always excellent Hodmedods) as a whole lentil. It is basically the whole version of the split red lentil which is probably the most used lentil in the UK.  

The weather was grim, but the festival was a riot of superb food and entertainment and a fab crowd of people who weren’t remotely put off by the rain. Importantly, we were kept dry by an amazing fleet of “brush boys” who spent the entire time directing pockets of collecting water out of the tarpaulins with long handled brooms. This was a full time job. Josiah Meldrum from Hodmedods braved the mud and rain to pick himself a lentil plant buttonhole and talk about the rationale behind growing lentils in the UK. Then there was the food. Wakelyns had soaked vatfuls of the lentils for us to cook with. Tasting a quite diverse range of dishes cooked with the same lentils was fascinating. I kicked things off with the black beluga and cauliflower salad from Modern Pressure Cooking which I had decided on before I knew what the weather was going to be. Mallika Basu cooked a ghee rich kichdi which was much more along the lines of what I wanted to eat. (And as an aside, the ghee was from Fen Farm Dairy, brilliantly named Bun-ghee. If you are confused by this, Fen Farm Dairy (makers of, amongst other things, Baron Bigod) is close to Bungay. Quite the best ghee I’ve ever had). Linda Duffin of Mrs Portly’s Kitchen took a historical approach with a warming, fragrant potage, flavoured with “poudre douce”. There was a perfectly crisp, light as a feather puri, a sweet black lentil dish which I am going to start making in place of rice pudding once I can figure out the recipe and of course, a range of dals. Stupidly, I have no decent photos as I spent the entire time eating and chatting.

One thing I learned in the few days running up the festival was that it is very hard to cook these lentils to al dente if they are soaked first. Usually an unsoaked black beluga lentil takes 5-7 mins HP natural release to be al dente. Soaked, some were soft at zero minutes fast release. This is fine if you are cooking them to soft, but for a salad you need more bite. It does of course also depend on the freshness of the lentils. The lentils we were given to test were last year’s crop (this year’s won’t be ready for another month yet) but they cooked much faster than the organic black beluga lentils I bought from my local wholefood shop, which makes me question quite how old they are. These, after soaking were al dente – just at zero minutes. It did show me that when it comes to most lentils (the exception being whole urud dal, which I use to make dal makhani), there is more control if you cook them unsoaked. My mantra is always, better to undercook than overcook, as you can adjust the former but not the latter.

I am not going to recreate my salad recipe here as it is in Modern Pressure Cooking. Instead, here are a couple of recipes which will hopefully cover all bases in terms of the very changeable weather. A more Mediterranean style salad and a dal. I realise that this means that 2 posts in a row have had a salad/curry combo. What can I say? It’s how I’m eating at the moment….

Finally, before I get onto the recipes, a quick note to say that I mention Linda Duffin above. Linda runs a cookery school called Mrs Portly’s Kitchen in a beautiful and historic house in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. I am running a pressure cooker course there in early October and I think there are a couple of places left. Do think about joining us - Linda’s hospitality is second to none and all you have to do is sit back, watch me cook, add as many questions as you like and of course eat, eat, eat.

Coconut Dal

This is inspired by one of the dishes I ate last Saturday, made by an aunt/niece team from Kerala, both – lucky for us - recently moved to the UK to work as nurses. I would normally do a relatively straightforward tarka to pour over the top of the lentils but instead have pressure roasted cauliflower with the spices too. At zero minutes cooking time it isn’t exactly an onerous addition.

Note, if you have made a batch of the onion/ginger/garlic paste in Modern Pressure Cooking (and if you haven’t, I strongly advise you do, so useful in the freezer), you can add a tablespoon or two of that instead in place of the onion/garlic/ginger in the recipe.

Another note: it is not always easy to find whole red lentils. You can buy them online at Hodmedods, or you can use brown, green or puy lentils instead. The aim is to make a whole lentil dish which won’t break down and thicken in the same way a split lentil one will. And actually, while I would normally make this kind of dal with a split lentil, whole are much better for you because of the higher fibre content.

For the dal:

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

15g piece ginger, crushed

1 tbsp spice mix (or use whatever you like)

200g whole red, brown or green lentils, rinsed

200g tomatoes, tinned for fresh, pureed

400ml coconut milk

600ml water

1 tsp garam masala

For the spices:

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

A pinch of cloves

Optional Garnish:

1 tbsp coconut oil

A handful of curry leaves

1 tsp nigella seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 small cauliflower, broken into small florets

To finish:

Plenty of chopped coriander and green chillies

Heat the oil in your pressure cooker. Add the onion and saute until a light golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another couple of minutes. Stir in the spices and the drained lentils and stir to combine. Pour in the tomatoes and coconut milk, followed by the water. Season generously – lentils will take a lot of salt. Stir to make sure the base of the pan is properly deglazed then close the lid.

Bring up to high pressure, then if using a stove top adjust the temperature to maintain the pressure. Cook for 7 minutes at high pressure then remove from the heat and leave to drop pressure naturally. Stir in the garam masala and taste for seasoning again.

If you are making the cauliflower garnish and so need to use your pressure cooker, transfer the dal to a saucepan or casserole and keep warm. Wash out your pressure cooker, then set over a high heat and add the coconut oil. When it has melted and very hot, add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. When they snap, crackle, pop, sprinkle in the turmeric and give a quick stir before adding the coconut. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes, then add a splash of water. This should create quite a lot of steam as you are cooking on a high heat. Close the lid as fast as you can – you should find the pressure starts rising almost immediately. Cook for 30 seconds at high pressure then fast release. Serve with the dal, sprinkled with coriander and green chillies for some extra heat.

Nicoise style egg and lentil salad.

One of the things I love working out when I’m developing recipes is which ingredients can be cooked together side by side. In Modern Pressure Cooking, I spent ages working out how to cook potatoes, green beans and eggs together for a salad nicoise, making sure that the potatoes were cooked through, the beans still green and bright and the eggs with a mollety fudgy centre. Those of you who have that book may also have noticed one of my favourite sauces – a combination of anchovy, garlic and lemon, cooked with greens.

This recipe is inspired by both of these things. I especially wanted to know if I could cook lentils and eggs together. The short answer is that yes you can. BUT I will always say that of course, pressure cooking is as inexact as any other type of cooking. It depends on your pressure cooker, your heat source, the size of your eggs, the age of your lentils….

If you find that your lentils generally take longer than 2 minutes HP + NPR – and I have to say, mine occasionally do -  and you don’t want to overcook your eggs, you can either chill them first or wrap them lightly in foil. Either of these things will slow down the cooking process.

And a note about the greens cooked in the sauce. You can use this in so many ways - a side dish (it works with virtually any greens - beans, broccoli, sprouting broccoli, kale, cabbage….), stir it through pasta or a pot of beans. It doesn’t have to be added to salad.

For the salad:

100g brown, green, whole red or puy lentils, rinsed

4 – 6 eggs

4 large handfuls salad greens

200g cherry tomatoes, halved

2 shallots, sliced finely and soaked in salted water for 30 mins

3 tbsp capers, rinsed

1 small tin/jar tuna, drained and lightly flaked

Handfuls of mint, basil, parsley

For the courgettes and dressing:

1 small tin anchovies, in oil

6 garlic cloves, crushed

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 2 lemons

¼ tsp chilli flakes

500g courgettes, thickly sliced

1 tbsp olive oil (optional)

First cook the lentils and eggs. Put the lentils in your pressure cooker with ½ tsp salt and a tsp of olive oil. Add 200ml water. Put a trivet and steamer insert into the pressure cooker and arrange the eggs on top.

Bring up to high pressure and adjust the heat to maintain the pressure. Cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to drop pressure naturally. Open the pressure cooker and remove the eggs. Run the eggs under cold water or put in a bowl of iced water before peeling. Make sure the lentils are cooked through – if any are a bit hard, leaving them in the cooking liquid will finish off the job as they cool. Drain and set aside.

To cook the courgettes and their dressing, tip the anchovies, oil and all, into your pressure cooker. Set over a low heat and mash until they are completely broken up. Add the garlic and lemon zest. Add the lemon juice all at once (ie, don’t squeeze directly into the pan, it will evaporate off too much as you do so)  and the chilli flakes if using. Stir in the courgettes and close the lid. Bring up to high pressure and immediately remove from the heat. Fast release the pressure. You will find that the courgettes are a mixture of al dente and slightly softer and that they are sitting in a pool of anchovy sauce.

Remove the courgettes from the pan and set aside. Check the sauce for seasoning and oiliness – if the courgettes have given out too much liquid you might want to balance it with a little more olive oil. Leave to cool to just above room temperature.

To assemble the salad, arrange the salad leaves, lentils, tomatoes, drained shallots and courgettes over a platter or in individual bowls and drizzle with most of the dressing. Toss very lightly and arrange the eggs over the top. Sprinkle over the capers and the herbs and top with the remaining dressing, a little sea salt and some black pepper.