Masoor Dahl with Basmati Rice

In the interest of furthering backcountry cuisine, eating tasty food and having fun, this blog comes into existence.  I'll be creating and adapting recipes for wilderness travel.  If you like what you see,  please try it out.

I first wanted a stove that could simmer.  I have the Whisper Lite which is a good stove but not the best at simmering and the Reactor which is awesome at boiling water but also not the best at simmering.  The Wind Pro advertised itself as having great simmering ability and I found that it is so.  It also boils water with alacrity.

Just to see if the stove could really simmer I prepared some basmati rice.  

1/2 cup Rice 

2/3 cup Water

The rice turned out great except for being slightly dry.  I'll try it with an extra 1/3 cup of water next time.

I haven't gotten backpacking cookware yet.  For now I'll just use what I have. This is a 1 quart pot.


Masoor Dahl
Masoor Dahl is red lintels.  Red lintels taste great and cook really fast.  Every time I cook this dish I do it a little differently.  Adding spinach or potatoes, replacing ginger with garlic, changing the amounts of the spices, etc...  Feel free to experiment.


This is how I prepared this dahl...


1/2 cup   Red Lintels
2   cups  Water
1   Tbl   Vegetable Oil
1   tsp   Black Mustard Seed
1   tsp   Fresh Ginger
1 pinch   Chile Flakes
1/4 tsp   Ground Turmeric
1/4 tsp   Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp   Ground Coriander
1/4 tsp   Ground Cayenne Pepper
1/4 tsp   Salt

In the oil, fry the ginger, chile flakes and mustard seeds.  Be careful not to burn the mustard seeds by keeping the stove on a lower setting.  You should hear them popping like popcorn.

First, add the lintels and then the water.  Adding in this order prevents an oil/water explosion.

Bring to a rapid boil for 3-5 minutes before adding all the other ingredients.

With the lid on, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

If you want the spices a little more integrated cook another 5 minutes.  

This dahl turned out great.  With the rice it was plenty of food for two people.  Very rich.  It was a little spicy.  I may cut back on the chiles next time.  Could have used a little more salt, but I like to let people salt to taste.

Possibilities for next time:

 •  Using 1/4 tsp powdered ginger instead of fresh

 •  Adding fresh or powered garlic

 •  Varying the amount of hot chile

 •  Adding all of the spices at the frying stage also works well to release their flavor.  Add them after the mustard begins to pop.  Just be careful not to burn them.

Would be great with some Indian bread!  I'll have to get on that.

Update: One thing that I have tried recently is throwing a 1/2 tea spoon of curry powder (S&B brand) into the frying oil at the beginning instead of the ginger.  Then doing the rest of the recipe as written above. This alteration is very tasty!