Winter makes me want to pull out the slow cooker and get something cooking. Because there’s something warm and fuzzy and comforting about food cooked in a crockpot. And is there one good reason not to love food that cooks itself? My Fat Free Slow Cooker Dal requires just a little bit of prep, but after that all you need to do is plug in your crockpot and leave it alone for a few hours and voila! You are rewarded with a delicious and nutritious dish for your rice or your roti, all without much effort. One thing to keep in mind when cooking recipes with beans and lentils in a crockpot is that legumes are not perfect crockpot foods, unless you add them precooked or canned. And if you have to precook the legumes, that pretty much defeats the purpose of one-pot cooking, doesn’t it? Soaking the dals can help somewhat, but I am also not looking to add more hours of soaking on top of the four or five needed to cook the dal in the crockpot. The secret, then, to making a successful dal in a crockpot is to use the right lentils. The kind that break down easily so you get a creamy consistency to your dal. Pink lentils– or masoor dal– are a perfect choice. Dals like udad dal used to make Dal Makhani, and tuvar or chana dal aren’t. I made my slow cooker dal fat-free and to it I added some leafy greens for more nutritional muscle. This is a perfect time to dig up those wilting greens in the back of the crisper and give them a happy new life. Use any kind of green, really. Kale is perfect here, but so is spinach. I sometimes add spring greens when I have some left over from a salad. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
More vegan dal recipes
The Best Dal Recipe Dal Tadka Dal Bukhara Dhabay ki Daal Vegan Dal Makhani
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