Andi Oliver's Red Lentil Dhal

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Andi Oliver's Red Lentil Dhal

Andi Oliver came to our meal service and cooked with us an amazing meal of fried plantain topped red lentil dhal & white sweet potato fritters.Servings 3-4 people | Prep Time – 25 minutes | Total Time – 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

For the Sweet Potato Fritters 

• 320g White sweet potato – Grated (I prefer white, but pink sweet potato will work just as well) 110g White onion - Grated 
• 4 Cloves garlic - Finely grated 
• 15g Fresh ginger Finely grated 
• 1 tsp Turmeric 
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds 
• 1 tsp Chilli flakes 
• 40g Self-raising flour 
• 30g Fine cornmeal 
• 1 Sprig thyme - just the leaves 
• 8g Chives - Finely chopped 
• big pinch salt 
• black pepper 
• 500ml Neutral oil for deep frying ( vegetable, rape seed or sunflower) 

For the Dhal 

• 1 Plantain – peeled & sliced on the bias 
• 1 Medium Onion – Thinly sliced 
• 4 Cloves Garlic – Grated 
• 2 Birds eye chillies – Very finely chopped 
• 140g Red lentils 
• Splash of rapeseed oil 
• Tsp whole cumin seeds 
• Tsp Ground coriander 
• Tsp Ground Turmeric 
• Tsp Caribbean curry powder  
• 2 whole star anise 
• 20g Ginger – Peeled & grated 
• 800ml Vegetable stock 
• Small handful coriander – Roughly chopped 
• 1 Spring onion top – Roughly chopped 

For the Golden Edoes 

• 12 eddoes (or new potato if you can’t get eddoes) 
•  400ml tin coconut milk, 5g turmeric, 
• 1 whole birds eye chilli 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 2 whole cloves garlic 
• 200ml chicken stock 
• 300g chopped peeled pumpkin

 

Method

SWEET POTATO FRITTERS AND DHAL

1. Combine all the fritter ingredients, cover & refrigerate for 15/20 mins.  
2. Meanwhile make your dhal. 
3. Sweat down onion, garlic & chilli in a splash of oil, once soft add spices & ginger & a  touch more oil & continue to gently fry for a few more minutes. 
4. Add red lentils & give them a good mix up to get coated with the spices, add 700ml  chicken stock reduce heat & simmer gently for 20-25 mins stirring occasionally, if it  looks like its too thick add a splash more water, once the lentils are tender, give it a  stir add the final 100ml of chicken stock & turn off the heat.  
5. Whilst the dhal is cooking, Start frying your fritters.  
6. Heat your oil to around 150-170oc Test the heat of the oil by slipping in a pinch of  the sweet potato mix. If it rises and starts to go golden quickly it’s ready to fry! 
7. Gently slip 1 tbsp of the fritter mix at a time into the hot oil until golden, in batches of  3 or 4 at a time keep them a modest size or they’ll be raw inside! 
8. Have a plate or bowl with kitchen roll to one side and transfer the fritters from the  pan directly to this to get rid of any excess oil. 
9. Once the dhal has settled set aside & gently fry you sliced plantain until golden,  
10. Just before serving stir through half of the chopped coriander & spring onion & lay the  fried plantain on top, sprinkle over the last of the chopped herbs to garnish & serve  the fritters piled high in a bowl alongside. 

GOLDEN EDOES

1. Take a large deep saucepan add the eddoes coconut milk and all of the above ingredients. Simmer for around 25 mins till the eddoes are tender, remove them from the poaching liquor. Transfer to a bowl and toss them roughly in the bowl so that the edges get bashed like you would a parboiled potato. Leave in the fridge to chill (For about 45mins)
2. Heat the oven to 300 and warm a roasting tray with a generous lug of rapeseed oil. 
3. When the oil is hot slip in the pumpkin and now cold eddoes and return to oven for around 45 mins till crisp and golden on the outside.
4. Whilst the vegetables are roasting, mash any remaining bits of garlic and remove the bay leaves and the whole chilli. Bubble up the poaching stock and reduce by a third. 
5. Serve the eddoes in a large bowl with the liquor poured over the top, scatter some coriander leaves and grate lime zest on the top.