I love Indian food.

So when we were thinking about what to make for New Year’s Eve (the traditional stuff here would have been Raclette or Fondue, which I am not really fond of), it didn’t take me long to come up with the idea. We’ll make a big, yummy, tasty, authentic, Indian feast!

As a starter, we had Dahl soup.
Our entree was Navratan Korma with Naan bread
Accompanied by Mango-Chai Lassi
And finally, sweet rice pudding with rose water as a dessert!

I’ve had all those dishes cooked by an Indian family before… and I tried to get as close to the flavor I remembered. What should I say… I think it worked out just fine!

Here are all the recipes from our feast:

Dahl Soup (recipe in this post)
Navratan Korma
Naan bread (Indian flatbread)
Indian Lassi
Sweet rice pudding

Let’s start with our starter!

Dahl Soup

• 1/3 cup red lentils 
• 2 fresh, chopped tomatoes
• about 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 teaspoon garam Masala
• a pinch of asafoetida
• optional: cayenne pepper
• salt and black pepper to taste
• water as need for desired consistence
• 1 tsp oil

Heat the oil in a pot (medium heat). Add cumin, garam masala and asafoetida and roast until the spiced omit the typical, delicious smell (just take care that you don’t burn them. However, you’d smell that, too ; ) ). Add chopped tomatoes and cook for about 3 min. Now, add coconut milk and lentils. Don’t add salt until the lentils are cooked and really soft! Depending on your desired consistence, add water. Cook until the lentils are soft. When the soup is done, you can use a potato masher to make it even more creamy. Season the soup with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.

Keep in mind: Hot food makes you happy! I guess this little guy added a lot of cayenne pepper… This Dahl is really rich and creamy, if you want to lighten it up, use less coconut milk. It will still taste great.

Cheers! I hope you all had a great start of the year. My little friends and I are looking forward to many more yummy, vegan and playful blog posts in 2013!