Channa Dal with Chanterelle Mushrooms

Our local foodie market has been carrying chanterelles, making it all too easy for me to indulge in these delicious golden mushrooms. I've been frying them in butter and eating them straight-up -yum! But, at some point, I decided to look through my cookbooks for recipes.

Happily, I found this easy and delicious soup recipe in The Artful Vegan, the second recipe book by Millennium's Executive Chef, Eric Tucker. Channa dal is the Indian name for small split garbanzo beans (I got mine at Malabar Indian Store on 4th St. in San Rafael). I've always made dal with red lentils, but I loved the channa dal. I cooked them until they were soft, but still held their shape and had a little texture. As the intro to the recipe suggests, the chanterelles really add magic, making this both a humble and luxurious dish. Ideal for the season, it's really good for you too!

Here's my adaption of the recipe:

Channa Dal with Chanterelle Mushrooms (from The Artful Vegan):


1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger, minced
1 garlic glove, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined, and minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBS curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 cup chanterelle mushrooms, torn
1 cup channa dal
3-4 cups vegetable stock

Heat the oils and cook the onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno and salt for 5 minutes, until onion is soft. Add the curry powder and cumin and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Add the chanterelles and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Add the vegetable stock and the channa dal and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until channa dal are soft (about 45 minutes).