This Creamy Black Lentil Dhal has become my new favourite high-protein dinner recipe! Black lentils and kidney beans provide the protein and are cooked in a delicious sauce with warm spices. I also add some spinach for colour and some more veggies and stir in some crème fraiche for a really creamy result. This Black Lentil Dhal is perfect on its own but also great as a side dish! Check out some of my serving suggestions below or click here to jump straight to the recipe!
What are Black Lentils and where can you buy them?
While you can find red lentils literally everywhere, black lentils are a lot harder to come by. The black lentils I used in this recipe come in their dried form, though I have also seen tinned versions. You may also find that they are not called black beans but beluga lentils or urid dhal instead. While red lentils go quite soft and can disintegrate once cooked, black lentils tend to keep their shape and texture. Having them “al dente” is the best in my opinion.
In terms of where you can buy black lentils, I have found some large supermarkets to have them tucked away in the “world foods section”. Alternatively, I would recommend trying small local shops that sell Indian or Arabic ingredients as they might sell them, too (and probably cheaper than in the supermarket!).
What can you serve with this Creamy Black Lentil Dhal
While this dhal can make a delicious main meal, I like to serve it with some additional protein or my homemade 2-ingredient naan breads. The naan breads are made from only self-raising flour and yoghurt and can be made while the dhal is cooking. Click here to check out the recipe for that.
Alternatively, this dhal also goes really well with fish and I often serve it with some oven-baked white fish fillets (as shown in the pictures). Chicken also goes really well with this dhal and we have recently been having the Black Lentil Dhal with Fingal’s Beer-Marinated Chicken Thighs! I will be uploading that recipe shortly!
The dhal also freezes extremely well so it is perfect for meal prep! I often freeze some of the recipe below so that I can just get it out the freezer one day and serve as a side with some chicken or naan as above without having to make the dhal on the same day, too! Just let it defrost and heat it in the microwave and you are good to go!
Creamy Black Lentil Dhal
Recipe
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
- 1 large red onion
- 1 tsp fine sea salt.
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
- Thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
- 1tsp each of ground coriander, cumin, and garam masala
- ½ tsp each of ground cinnamon, turmeric, and chilli powder
- 2 tins kidney beans, drained
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 200g black lentils
- 1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 350mL boiling water
- 200g fresh spinach
- 6 tbsp crème fraîche
Method
- Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, add the onions and fine sea salt and fry over a low heat for 5-10 minutes until starting to soften.
- Next, add the garlic, ginger, and all of the spices to the man and fry for 1-2 minutes to cook out the rawness of the spices.
- Rinse the black lentils under some cold water and then add them to the frying pan alongside the kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, and vegetable stock. Stir well, cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer for 30-40 minutes until thickened and the lentils are cooked.
- Near the end of the cooking time, stir in the fresh spinach and leave to wilt.
- To finish, stir in the crème fraiche and season with a little extra salt and pepper if necessary.
- You can serve this creamy black lentil dhal by itself or have it as a side dish. I like serving the dhal with some oven-baked white fish or these beer-marinaded chicken thighs (recipe coming soon). For a carbohydrate fix, why not try making my 2-Ingredient Naan Breads which would be perfect for dipping into the dhal!
