Tibetan Dal Bhat

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1. 1Step 1: Wash and rinse the lentils and allow to soak overnight if possible (can do without but this speeds the cooking time).
2. 2Step 2: Heat the oil in a large skillet or dutch oven; add the ginger and onion and stir fry on high until the onion is a little brown around the edges, 2-5 mins.
3. 3Step 3: Turn down the heat to medium and add the ginger – stir fry for another 1-2 minutes.
4. 4Step 4: Stir in the cumin seeds, salt, turmeric, mustard seed and coriander powder and stir for another 2 minutes (this will begin to smell divine!).
5. 5Step 5: Add the diced tomatoes and butter, cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes.
6. 6Step 6: Then stir in the lentils. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, add a cup of stock, cook 5 minutes more, stir in 2C more stock.
7. 7Step 7: Continue cooking on medium for 10 more minutes.
8. 8Step 8: Taste the stew to be sure the lentils are tender – cook longer if needed.
9. 9Step 9: Then turn off the heat, sprinkle with the fresh cilantro, and it’s ready to serve over your basmati rice.
10. 10Step 10: Tibetans like to scoop this up with some kind of unleavened flatbread – chapatis are popular, but you can also use Naan or tortillas.
11. 11Step 11: Some enjoy livening it up with some red chili flakes, or with an Indian chutney or hot sauce.
12. 12Step 12: Ladle out a known quantity (2 trail servings at about 1.5-2C per serving) onto the solid plastic tray of your dehydrator. You can do 4 servings at a time if you have enough left over, by putting an additional 3-4C of the mixture on a second plastic tray. You can dry two trays of this in your dehydrator at one time – just separate the two trays with an empty one.
13. 13Step 13: Dry the mixture on the 135 o setting overnight.
14. 14Step 14: In the morning, crumble up the mixture. If it still feels a little moist, put it back in the dehydrator for a few more hours; otherwise, put the dried mixture into one or more zip-loc bags, label with the number of original servings, and put away in the fridge or freezer.
15. 15Step 15: When you’re ready to pack your food for the trail, put the same number of servings of instant rice in a separate zip-loc bag to rehydrate at camp and serve with your Dal.
16. 16Step 16: At camp, boil water and add enough of it to your pre-measured dehydrated food to reconstitute the original serving volume. Wrap it in aluminum foil or tuck it into an insulated cozy for 15 minutes and it should be ready to eat!