Fat-free Red Lentil Stew with Garlic and Shallots. Masoor Daal. Vegan glutenfree

I signed up my Ma for the 21 day vegan kickstart India. I also get their daily mails, menu plans, and regularly check their Facebook Page for some wonderful information. Last week, they posted a recipe video for a fat free Daal. Video linked below. I thought, maybe I should give some fat-free cooking a try too.

I use minuscule amounts of oil for the tempering in general. You should see my mom's expression when she looks at the almost invisible amount in the pan:). The oils that we currently use for cooking are virgin coconut, organic expeller pressed(non chemically treated) canola , virgin olive and sesame.

Places where I usually look to find about fat free recipes are Dr Nandita Shah at Sharan and Susan at FatFreeVegan. Most oils or fats that we use in cooking, baking are usually quite refined. The canola, olive, shortening, vegan butters etc. There is already fat in its natural form in all the food that we eat, the beans, fruits, veggies, nuts, grains. When we eliminate the added refined oil, the dish is not exactly fat-free, it is free of processed and refined fats. hence eliminating the chemicals and alterations that happen to the oil during the refining process. For more information about why and how to cook fat-free, the benefits, the taste, substitutions and more see Susan's fabulous blog Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

All my Daals/Stews collection here.

Like most people, I take my own time to make changes as well. I dont know if I will go a completely fat-free way or not yet, but that does not stop me from experimenting and trying out different ways of cooking :)

Here is a simple pink lentil daal, that I made without any oil. The taste is just slightly different, but it did not bother me or hubbs at all, as a part of a whole meal with a dry veggie side, some Roti flat breads and rice.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pink lentils(split red lentils, Masoor dal) Washed and soaked for 1/2 an hour.

1.5 cups water

1/3 teaspoon salt or to taste

Tempering:

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

4-5 curry leaves chopped

2 Shallots finely chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 green chili pepper or chili flakes to taste

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

a generous pinch of asafoetida(Hing)

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

Method:

Heat a large pan on medium heat.

Add the mustard and cumin seeds and stir once. Let them start to pop a little.

Add the curry leaves, green chili, shallots and garlic and cook stirring every few seconds until golden. (add a few drops of water if needed)

Add in the hing, turmeric and coriander powders. Mix well for a few seconds.

(you can add some chopped tomato as well. Add 1 medium tomato, mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft and then add the lentils).

Drain the lentils and add to pan. Add salt and water. Mix well.

Cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Stir, taste and adjust salt and spice, add water if the daal is too thick.

Cook partially covered, for another 10 minutes or so until required consistency is achieved(I stop at about the 10 minute mark when the lentils are soft, and not too mushy. Cook longer for a really soupy consistency).

Garnish with chopped green onion or cilantro and dash of lemon juice.

Serve hot with Rice, or dry veggie subzi and Flat breads.

This Daal is being shared at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop, Allergy Free Wednesdays, Ricki's Wellness Weekends.

Video below of Dr Nandita Shah from Sharan India(Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature ) , and Dr Barnard cooking up a fat-free Daal as a part of the 21 day kickstart.

I also found this wonderful video below, of Dr Nandita Shah visiting Google India, and answering all questions asked by the Googlers, as they call themselves apparently.

Its a fairly long video(skip first 5 minutes as thats just a read out of the list of all questions), but there are some interesting statistics and points which apply to India. I usually always find a whole lot of US stats or general world stats in most posts or blogs, or other reading. This video has some specific Indian stats(Find more on the Sharan website). If you think your neighborhood cows are happy and the Doodhwala and Gaushala are so nice... Please watch.