Everyday dinner
Red-lentil and carrot dal with rice and greens
Soft red lentils and grated carrot with warming spices, fluffy rice and lemony cabbage.
Free guide: thirty gluten-free dinners, with the shopping lists
Grated carrot softens into this gently spiced dal, while lemon brightens the lentils and cabbage. The quantities include rice and greens for four complete plates.
The ingredient list is the combined shopping list: oil, garlic, lemon and salt appear once, with their allocations explained in the method. Check your cupboards and subtract what you already have before shopping. Start with dried lentils, uncooked rice and fresh vegetables; cooked leftovers have separate storage instructions below.
The recipe
Red-lentil and carrot dal with rice and greens
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total*
- 60 min
- Makes
- 4 servings
*Estimated development timings. No separate standing time is required. Rice drains briefly while the meal is finished; cooking times may vary with the lentils and rice.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the dal
For the rice and greens
Shared ingredients for the whole meal
Equipment
- Use a heavy-based saucepan of at least 3 litres for the dal.
- Use a second saucepan of at least 3 litres for the rice.
- Use a wide sauté pan with a lid for the cabbage.
- Have three hob rings available for the overlapping cooking stages; no oven is needed.
- Use a chopping board, knife, coarse grater, fine sieve, measuring jug, measuring spoons and stirring spoon.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Prepare the ingredients
Wash the vegetables and lemon before preparing them. Check the lentils for debris, then rinse in a fine sieve. Rinse the rice separately and drain. Grate the carrots and ginger, chop the onion and garlic, and shred the cabbage into thin ribbons. Squeeze the lemon and measure out the two portions of juice. Check that the vegetables are free of grit and the cabbage has no thick pieces of core.
- 02
Soften the onion
Heat 15 ml oil in the dal saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for 7–8 minutes, stirring, until softened and translucent. Add three chopped garlic cloves and the ginger, then stir for 1 minute. Add the cumin, coriander and turmeric and stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant but not scorched.
- 03
Simmer the dal
Stir in the carrots, lentils and 1.2 litres water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a steady gentle simmer. Cook with the lid partly covering the pan for 25–30 minutes, or longer if the lentil packet requires it. Stir regularly, scraping across the base. Add the reserved water in 50 ml splashes if the mixture starts catching or becomes stiff. The lentils should collapse when pressed with the spoon, with no chalky centre, and the carrot should be soft. Continue simmering if necessary.
- 04
Cook the rice
Once the dal has been simmering for about 10 minutes, bring the rice water to the boil in the second saucepan. Add the rice and cook at a gentle boil for its packet time, usually 10–12 minutes. Check a few grains: they should be tender throughout with no hard centre. Drain thoroughly, return to the warm pan and cover off the heat while you finish the meal. Aim to serve within a few minutes.
- 05
Steam the greens
While the rice cooks, heat the remaining 15 ml oil in the sauté pan. Add the remaining garlic and stir for 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Add the cabbage, 75 ml water and ¼ tsp salt. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 6–8 minutes, turning halfway through. Uncover and cook for another 1–2 minutes if water remains. The cabbage should be tender with a little bite and no pool of water underneath. Stir in 15 ml lemon juice.
- 06
Finish and serve
Stir the remaining 15 ml lemon juice and ¼ tsp salt into the dal. If it is watery, simmer uncovered for a few minutes; if too thick, stir in a little of the reserved water and let it bubble again. It should settle softly on a plate rather than hold a stiff mound. Check that the dal and cabbage are hot throughout, fluff the rice with a fork and divide all three components between four plates. Serve immediately.
Ingredient checks
Use plain split red lentils, plain rice and single-ingredient spices whose labels or manufacturer information confirm suitability for a gluten-free diet. Check lentils particularly carefully for cereal cross-contact; rinsing does not make a product with an unresolved gluten risk suitable for someone with coeliac disease. Check every packaged ingredient, including oil and seasonings, for ingredients and precautionary allergen statements. This recipe uses water rather than stock and has no bought sauce or spice blend. Use clean pans, sieve, grater, utensils and work surfaces, and keep ingredients away from bread crumbs and wheat flour. The list gives total meal quantities once, including all shared allocations; no pantry stock has been assumed or deducted.
Allergens: No ingredients from the 14 UK regulated allergen groups are intentionally included in the specified recipe.; The assessment covers celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya and sulphites; actual packaged products and cross-contact warnings still need checking.; Lentils can cause reactions outside the regulated list, and a plant-based recipe is not automatically suitable for everyone with an allergy..
Make it work for you
Replace the Savoy cabbage with 500 g prepared spring greens, removing tough stalks and cooking until the leaves are tender.
Use 30 ml olive oil instead of rapeseed oil, keeping the same allocation between dal and greens.
Use plain white long-grain rice instead of basmati, keeping the 250 g dry quantity and following its packet cooking instructions.
Do not replace the split red lentils directly with whole green lentils or tinned lentils; their cooking times, water needs and final texture differ.
For another day
Keep leftover rice separate from the dal and greens. Divide rice into shallow portions and cool as quickly as possible, ideally within one hour; do not leave it in the cooking pan to cool. Refrigerate and eat within 24 hours.
Divide leftover dal and greens into shallow containers, cool promptly and refrigerate within one to two hours at 5°C or below. Eat within 48 hours, or freeze promptly after cooling.
For make-ahead meals, freeze the cooled dal in labelled portions and cook fresh rice and greens when serving. This recipe's texture after freezing has not been kitchen-tested.
Defrost frozen dal in the fridge and use within 24 hours of complete defrosting. Reheat only once, stirring frequently, until steaming hot throughout.
Reheat properly chilled rice only once until steaming hot throughout and eat immediately. If rice has been mixed with the dal or greens, apply the rice cooling and 24-hour storage limits to the whole mixture.
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