Dahl for Dinner

it's been raining here and i love it. not torrential and not so cold out that i have to wear layers upon layers. cold enough to want to stay bundled up with my lovies (or fur babies) and watch movies or knit or listen to my new favorite song over and over again ("golden" by jill scott). definitely cold enough to have a delicious soup or fragrant stew bubbling away on the stove. tonight, it's dahl.

i got the bug to make it after i picked up a bit at the whole foods hot bar last week. it was SO good! dahl is one of those staple, 'go to' dishes. it's indian so it's full of fragrant spices like cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom. healthy. filling. satisfying. i based mine off of this recipe  from eat spin run repeat that i found on pinterest.

the cool thing about dahl is that it's versatile and forgiving. and...inexpensive. bonus!!! seriously, you could feed this to, like, eight people for pennies on the dollar. add some minted plain yogurt to dollop on top, a crisp salad and warm naan and everyone will love you. or...at least they won't leave hungry.

so, naan isn't pictured in this shot nor minted yogurt or the chopped cilantro that the recipe calls for. that's ok. it's still delicious. for this dish, i replaced the carrots with butternut squash and i added 1/2 a head of chopped cauliflower. that's the cool thing about dahl; you can add or sub out ingredients however you like. and you know what? it's going to taste even better tomorrow...