I'm making spicy soup!

I have a lot of Indian dal (lentils) of different kinds.  I love the little coral colored ones and that's what's cooking.

It's a pretty simple recipe - caramelize a lot of onions in a little butter then add minced garlic and garam masala, or your own mixture of aromatic spices.  Add the lentils and stir around to toast them a little and add water.  Simmer for an hour and it's done.  I'm having this with some other vegetables added for lunch, and maybe even for supper.  One pot!

I had no idea there were multiple kinds of lentils, I use the little round brown-grey ones that come in a plastic bag like rice.  They are incredibly versatile just like that and I eat a lot of them.

Is the taste/texture different or just the color?

Also, what is garam masala?  ::brown bag of shame::  And here I thought I was a good cook.

Claire, yum!  I make this a lot, but I add carrots and less onions.  I also use vegetable broth instead of water.  I cook it longer.  If I make it very thick, I use it like hummus ie cold in a wrap or with raw veggies.  I can also make it more liquidy as use it as a soup. 

P.S.  Garam Masala is a mixture of spices, popular with Indian cooking.  Like Claire, I always have to have some around, as well as numerous individual spices.  I love my spice drawer!!  My garam masala has cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, black pepper, and coriander.   

There are dozens of types of lentils.  The ones I'm using today are very small, hulless and split, and they are a pretty coral pink color.  They lose the pink color when they cook and become pale tan.

I'm going to look for a link that shows pictures of different kinds of lentils.

I'm going to add links to this message as I find well illustrated examples

Indian Lentils and beans

This one is interesting Lentils & Beans

From the list of the World's Healthiest Foods - Lentils