West Indian
Masoorchi Usal (Whole Brown Lentil Curry)
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Masoorchi Usal (Whole Brown Lentil Curry) is West Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the cooked vegetable. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
The quantities follow this count.
How to cook it
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Rinse the whole brown lentils until the water runs clear and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes, or overnight if you can plan it, since the skins stay on these and they will not soften in the time a split lentil takes.
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Drain them, put them in a pressure cooker with the water and a pinch of the salt, and cook 4 whistles on medium heat, about 12 minutes, or simmer them covered 25 minutes over low heat, until a lentil crushes easily against the side of the pot while the skin is still whole.
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While the lentils cook, heat the oil in a kadai over medium heat, add the mustard seeds and wait for them to pop, then add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida and let them crackle 20 seconds.
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Add the chopped onion, crushed garlic and grated ginger and fry 6 minutes over medium heat until the onion is deep golden at the edges and the garlic has lost its raw edge.
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Stir in the grated coconut and cook 2 minutes over medium heat until it turns light brown and smells nutty, then add the turmeric, red chili powder and goda masala and cook 1 minute more so the masala loses its raw smell.
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Tip the cooked lentils in along with their cooking water, add the jaggery and the rest of the salt, and simmer uncovered 8 minutes over medium low heat until the gravy thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and a film of red oil rises to the surface.
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Taste and adjust the salt, then scatter the cilantro over the top and serve hot with bhakri or steamed rice.
Watch how to cook Masoorchi Usal (Whole Brown Lentil Curry)
Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.
Serve it with
A West Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Masoorchi Usal (Whole Brown Lentil Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The protein alongside
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Masoorchi Usal (Whole Brown Lentil Curry) carries sesame and coconut. It is free of the remaining 8 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | Yes | Akoori (Parsi Spiced Scrambled Eggs) |
| Coconut | Yes | Akoori (Parsi Spiced Scrambled Eggs) |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Estimated, per serving
- Calories
- 330 kcal
- Protein
- 13 g
- Carbs
- 38 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fiber
- 7 g
- Sugar
- 4 g
- Sodium
- 580 mg
- Saturated fat
- 3 g
Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.
When to cook it
Masoorchi Usal (Whole Brown Lentil Curry) takes about 35 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
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Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.