Dahl and Chili Spam (Quarantine Cooking)

We never had anything like a pandemic to stress about growing up, but there were definitely struggling moments when my mum had to figure out how to keep a family of six fed on a tight budget. And the way my mum cooked, I never felt like we went without when it came to mealtime. We were always fed so well and I will always be grateful for that.
Growing up, the 'emergency' foods my mother kept in our pantry included rice, lentils and canned spam.

When quarantine was first announced, my learned pantry cooking skills went into alert mode and I thought I'd share one of my favorite 'emergency' meals with you.

Dahl is and indian lentil dish usually served with rice.
Dahl and rice with some kind of fried protein (usually fried fish coated in spices for me)
has and always been a source comfort for me... it feels like I'm ingesting a nostalgic, warm hug.

My mum would serve a meal like this with other sides dishes like spicy scrambled eggs, plain yoghurt and indian pickles.
But for this post, I'll keep it simple and focus on the main dish recipes.

Ingredients

Rice:
-Jasmine rice
-Water

Cook per packaging instructions.
(I use a 1:1 ratio and then add about 1/4 cup of extra water for the evaporating process)

Chili Spam:
-Can of Spam
-Chili powder (Indian)
-Cooking oil (one that can handle high heat)
-Paper towel to drain after cooking

Cut spam into slices
Heat oil in pan to medium heat and place in sliced spam.
Sprinkle chili powder over the spam and turn over when getting golden on one side.
Sprinkle more powder if desired.
When cooked on both side, place on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Dahl:
-1 cup Red lentils
-3-4 cups Water
-1 tsp Asafetida
-Veggies, chopped (optional) ...I used green sereno peppers, sliced carrot and leftover eggplant I had
in the freezer
- 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1/2 Onion- chopped
-2 cloves of Garlic- chopped
-1-2 red chili's- chopped (optional)
-2 tsps Tumeric powder
-1 tsp Cumin powder
-1-2 tsp of Salt (gage to your taste)
-Cilantro for garnish (optional)


Wash red lentils and place in pot with water.
bring to a simmer and scrape foam that forms on top as it heats (this is gas releasing from the lentils and you want to remove as much of that as you can can the dish.)
Add asafetida and continue cooking for about 20mins, scraping foam and stirring as you go.
At about 10 mins (halfway) add the chopped vegetables to the pot.

While the lentils and veggies are softening, heat cooking oil in a separate pan.

You want to 'temper' the remaining ingredients.
Cooking them separately in oil releases the flavors before adding them to the Dahl.
Add onion, garlic and chili to pan, stir and let onion start to soften.
Add in tumeric, cumin and salt, stir until well combined.
Add to pot with cooked lentils.
Simmer together and stir well.
Taste and adjust flavors if necessary.
Garnish with cilantro and serve.