Indian Cabbage with Lentils

Our favorite local Indian restaurant, Janta, had a buffet with several delicious dishes the other day, including a cabbage dish and a mung bean dal. I had lots of cabbage and mung beans at home to use up, and I found a few recipes that combined them, so I gave this adaptation a try. It was totally easy and delish! The second time I made it, I used brown lentils. Just as good; maybe even better. I'm more likely to have lentils than mung beans around, so I think I'll stick with lentils for this from now on.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups lentils or mung beans, soaked overnight

1 small onion, diced

1 small head cabbage, shredded

   (try half green, half purple)

1/2 cup diced tomato

Saute:

2 T oil

1 jalapeno pepper, diced (or ground red pepper)

2 tsp cumin seed

2 tsp ginger, minced

Spices:

2 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp turmeric

1 T ground coriander

1 tsp salt

ground black pepper to taste

ground red pepper to taste

Instructions

Soak the beans/lentils for several hours or overnight; can drain and let them sprout a little, too.
In one pot, bring the beans/lentils to a boil and let simmer up to 20 min. In a large pan, heat the oil and fry cumin seeds, ginger, and pepper for a minute. Add the onion and fry another couple minutes. Add tomato, garlic, turmeric, corriander, salt, and cook another couple minutes. Add cabbage, reduce heat, and cook 5-10, covered, until it wilts (might have to add a little water, too). Add beans/lentils and reduce the heat to low, and cook another 20 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Season with black pepper, salt, and ground red pepper to taste.

Prep! (Beans/lentils are boiling on the left, out of the frame.)