Just Dhaling.

I stumbled upon this recipe a while back, whilst looking for something to do with a butternut squash that had been furkling about in my root veg box for far too long.  I fell in love with it instantly - it's warming, comforting, tasty and filling and also good for you.  Only mad people could fail to love it.

Butternut Squash Dhal at Mostly Eating

I prefer to amp up the spices a bit, blending a teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric and mild curry powder with half a teaspoon of nigella (black onion) seeds and the called-for ginger.  I also pop in a small cinnamon stick and two star anise whilst the lentils are cooking.  Just fish them out before you eat!  Don't pay stupid supermarket prices for things like star anise and cinnamon, though, track down an Indian grocer and buy a big bagful for about a pound.  You can also get the other spices in bulk but only if you're going to use them, or they'll go stale.

I make a massive pan of this which is portioned up and chilled/frozen.  It's a quick, filling tea for the snarflings, and a nice lunch on a cold day for me and the smaller snarfling, who has loved this dish pretty much from weaning onwards!

Today's includes a half tin of drained chickpeas left over from last night's tea, and the added texture is lovely.  I'm just about to cook some mixed veg and warm some through for the snarflings' tea.