There’s a period just as we come into spring where you can forage wild garlic in certain parts of the world, like here in Wales. At that point if you are hanging with me, you are gonna get wild garlic in your food! Today it’s wild garlic dal. This is a divinely delicious recipe with an amazing fresh kick of wild garlic leaves. You can make it in a quick 20 minutes, although if you have time to leave it in a slow cooker, then oh my God… we are talking a whole new level of deliciousness.
Making wild garlic dal
This wild garlic dal is super simple to make. You’ll find the recipe below. If you don’t have access to wild garlic, then simply swap out for a leafy green like spinach and add some extra garlic. I am using red lentils, garam masala, sea salt, a can of organic tomatoes. That’s it!
What is wild garlic?
WILD GARLIC (Ramsons – Allium ursinum) is a springtime foraging speciality in Europe and Asia. This is a welcome addition to the salad table at a time of year when other greens are often lacking. The wild garlic I am talking about here is Allium ursinum also known as ‘ramsons’. I use the leaves in abundance, making wild garlic pesto and adding them to salad, soups and other dishes. The white pretty flowers and bulbs are also edible. There are other related Allium varieties well worth checking out, such as Allium vineale (known as “crow garlic”) more commonly found in North America and Australia or three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum) with its triangular stems and white bell flowers, commonly found in the South-West of England and Wales.
This is what wild garlic looks like when it is in flower…
Before it flowers it looks like this…
A foraging guide (including wild garlic)
I have a full foraging guide here if you are interested…
Foraging guide for beginners in a temperate climate with 12 plants anyone can find
Wild garlic dal
A super tasty wild garlic dal recipe using red lentils, tomato, garam masala and sea salt.
Ingredients
- 100g wild garlic (see swaps below in notes)
- 250g red lentils
- Water (3x amount volume of lentils)
- 1 can of organic tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Cook the red lentils first in water. I tend to put at least 3 times the volume of water in compared to lentils. Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer until the lentils start falling apart.
- While your lentils are cooking chop your wild garlic into small pieces.
- Once the lentils have cooked, sieve them and rinse some water through to remove excess starch.
- Put the drained lentils back into your pan along with your wild garlic leaves, tomato, garam masala and sea salt.
- Bring the contents of the pan back to the boil and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
- It's ready to eat. However, if you have time and a slow cooker, then use this method instead as it will take it to an amazing level of deliciousness. As will reheating it the next day.
Notes
Alternative to wild garlic
If you don't have wild garlic, swap for the equivalent amount of spinach leaves. You can also use beet leaves, or kale. Then simply add crushed garlic along with the leaves.
Pin wild garlic dal for later…
A delicious salad using wild garlic leaves…
Thank you for your recipes and foraging info.
If you make this dish in a slow-cooker, would you just put everything in at the same time and leave it? or do you need to add things at different times and cook the lentils first?
Many thanks,
Aaje 🙂
I do it in a thermal cooker, which is slightly different to a slow cooker. I would actually cook it as shown and then put it in when I add and heat the remaining ingredients.
Alternatively, for a slow cooker you can rinse the lentils in a fine-meshed strainer first, add 3 parts water to 1 part lentils, mix everything together and then put in all at the same time. Hopefully that makes sense.