Thick Moong Dhal with Sauteed Broccoli (No Added Fat)

I love attending a new (year-old) local institution on Monday nights, PopUp Chorus, and needed to put dinner together quickly today. I thought that I'd try making a dhal with vegetables like potato and bell pepper, really a lentil stew, and put some skinned and split mung beans into my Instant Pot pressure cooker earlier in the day and set a timer to be ready an hour or so before dinner, enough time for me to add some vegetables and run the pressure cooker a second time.

As it turned out, the lentils tasted great when they were done and I went with them as-was without vegetables. I also made a simple broccoli sauté. Here is what I did (incidentally, tonight's chorus was particularly exciting; the chorus director proposed to his girlfriend via a song that he had written!):

Ingredients

• 1 cup skinned and split mung bean lentils
• 3 cups water
• 1/8 t turmeric
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/8 t ground cumin
• 2t fresh squeezed lemon juice

Process

1. I rinsed the lentils then cooked them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker, with all the ingredients except for the lemon juice, for 10m.
2. I slowly released pressure and opened the pot, then mixed in the lemon juice.
3. I thought it would take 12-13m and was going to add some vegetables and then cook again for 2m more, but I was delighted with the creamy flavor of the lentils, so - that's it!

I also made a simple broccoli and onion sauté on a cast iron pan.

Results

The dhal was excellent! I like this thick style of dhal. It's so easy and nutritious! The broccoli was also good.

Ideas for the future

I had forgotten, but some ginger would have been great in this dish, too. I could have served with some raw onion but chose not to as the dish was so full of flavor. The liquid was just right for this thick dhal; any less water and the pot would have had a bit of sticking. I'd like to make a thick dhal with vegetables as I had originally intended, using a 1 : 3 1/2 ratio to allow for slightly longer cooking, adding 3/8" cubes of sweet potato or Yukon gold potato, maybe a half cup of 1/4" cubed onion, and maybe a quarter cup of 3/8" cubed bell pepper.