Today, I’m sharing a food that’s made it into my favorite foods list over the past few months. It’s eaten in many countries of the world (India and Southeast Asia mainly) and is a fabulous vegetarian, spiced comfort food that’s actually not bad for you.
It’s also something that was on my 2013 Food Resolutions to make and I finally made! And it’s something that I couldn’t get out of my culinary mind after eating it for breakfast in Burma. It’s Chapati and Dal!
Chapati is a really easy wheat flatbread that goes perfectly with dal, an Indian lentil dish that can greatly vary in flavor, spice and contents. I was thrilled to find this super easy Curry Dal recipe in my Real Simple Magazine and my husband even said that it was one of his favorite meals that I’ve ever made.
The dal is flavorful, has a bit of a bite (I used chana dal, a split garbanzo bean lentil, but many types of lentils work) and is a warm and comforting meal for any time of the day. It’s paired with a cilantro yogurt sauce that cools the heat a bit and brings everything together with a party of textures. You can buy chana dal at Indian grocery stores or you can find other types of lentils at most grocery stores.
The Chapati was just as easy to throw together with whole wheat flour, salt, water and olive oil and just needs to be rolled out and cooked quick in a little oil to become both crispy and soft. You can even use your Chapati as a little burrito to scoop up your dal and rice.
Let these easy recipes help you jump into Indian cooking!
