Kale Dal Soup
Photo: Ajna Jai / Contributor
Of all the wide variety of lentils in India, split green peas that are fairly common here in America are not so in India. With roots in ancient China, soups make with green split peas were sold by street vendors in Greece and Italy going back to the 4th and 5th centuries. Split peas are a nutritional powerhouse, rich in fiber and a wonderful source of plant protein but what really makes them special is their delicious flavor. You can boil them and serve them cold or warm salads or turn them into a dal or a stew. Meats like sausage and ham are commonly added to the lentils to give it a meaty flavor.
Here, they get the Indian treatment however, they are finished with an entire bunch of minced kale. Steamed in with the dal and all its tangy spices softens the kale to a much more palatable bite and adds even more nutrition to the legumes.