Sri Lankan Dal

Inspiration: The Essential Asian Cookbook (in Danish translation)

I was leafing through this book one last time to see if I could find justification for keeping it. I noticed this recipe for a Sri Lankan dal, but concluded if that was all the book could still go. And so it did. But this recipe has come to stay - with a few modifications.

The original called for curry leaves and lemon grass which I've replaced with lime leaves. I tend to use more of the dried shrimp than the original recipe calls for. Also, I've adjusted the amount of water as I found in my hands it had too much of a tendency to get burned with the amounts in the original recipe.

Ingredients:
- 5-6 yellow onions, sliced
- rapeseed oil
- 1 handfull dried shrimp, chopped ^[1]
- 1 fresh green chilli, chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 400 g red lentils
- 0,5 L water
- 0,5 L vegetable stock
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 3-inch stick of cinnamon
- 10 lime leaves

The sliced onions were fried golden in the oil (for some 5-10 minutes) in a large pot, after which about half of them are removed from the pot. At this point, chilli, dried shrimp and turmeric was added and stirred briefly till fragrant. The rest of the ingredients were added and the pot was brought to a boil before reducing the heat and letting it simmer till the desired texture was achieved (I've found this can take 30-60 minutes). Seasoned to taste with salt and served with the reserved onion.

Additional sides:
- chopped coriander
- rice and/or flat breads
- chutney
- raita

^[1] I am planning to try replacing the chopped, dried shrimp with shrimp paste once I run out of dried shrimp.