The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.
As of December 2025, we’ve revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.
Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.
Aubergine & black bean dhal
Chunks of aubergine and super-satisfying black beans turn this dhal into a filling feast. They’re cooked in a medley of curry spices with onions and lentils, and served with rice flecked with spinach and coriander. Dhal-icious!
Plants 7
SWK: Source of protein
SWK: High fibre
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Serving size
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp curry powder (Turmeric Ground, Coriander Ground, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Ground Fenugreek, Fennel Seed, Chilli Powder, Pepper Black Ground, Salt)
- 1 vegetable stock cube (use half) (Celery) (Sea salt, potato starch*, sustainable palm oil*, sugar*, vegetables*(6,8%) [celery*, onion*, carrot*, parsnip*, tomato*], sunflower oil*, yeast extract, caramelised sugar*, herbs* & spices* ( lovage*, turmeric*, parsley*, black pepper*) *Organic ingredients)
- 1 aubergine
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic clove
- 4cm fresh ginger
- 1 chilli
- 140g basmati rice
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 230g black beans (Rehydrated black beans, water, salt.)
- 230g lentils (Cereals Containing Gluten) (Rehydrated lentils, water, tomato paste, salt, antioxidant: ascorbic acid)
- 1 handful of fresh coriander
- 80g baby spinach
Nutritional Information
Calories: 512
Protein: 23g
Carbs: 109g
Fat: 3.3g
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 280g basmati rice
- 2 aubergine
- 2 onion
- 4 garlic clove
- 8cm fresh ginger
- 2 x chilli
- 230g black beans (Rehydrated black beans, water, salt.)
- 460g lentils (Cereals Containing Gluten) (Rehydrated lentils, water, tomato paste, salt, antioxidant: ascorbic acid)
- 2 tbsp curry powder (Turmeric Ground, Coriander Ground, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Ground Fenugreek, Fennel Seed, Chilli Powder, Pepper Black Ground, Salt)
- 1 vegetable stock cube (Celery) (Sea salt, potato starch*, sustainable palm oil*, sugar*, vegetables*(6,8%) [celery*, onion*, carrot*, parsnip*, tomato*], sunflower oil*, yeast extract, caramelised sugar*, herbs* & spices* ( lovage*, turmeric*, parsley*, black pepper*) *Organic ingredients)
- 1 handful of fresh coriander
- 160g baby spinach
Nutritional Information
Calories: 456
Protein: 19g
Carbs: 95g
Fat: 3.0g
Aubergine & black bean dhal
Chunks of aubergine and super-satisfying black beans turn this dhal into a filling feast. They’re cooked in a medley of curry spices with onions and lentils, and served with rice flecked with spinach and coriander. Dhal-icious!
Cook time:
35 mins
Cuisine:
Indian
Food group:
Vegan
Allergens: Celery
Cooking Instructions
Get prepping
- Dice the aubergines into roughly 2cm chunks. Peel and finely dice the onions.
- Peel and crush the garlic, and finely grate the ginger. Finely dice the chillies (deseed for less heat).
Fry those aubergines & onions
- Spritz a large non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and put it over a medium-high heat. Fry the aubergines and cumin seeds for 5 mins.
- Add the onions and cook for 5-7 mins.
Boil the rice
- Cook the rice in boiling water for 10-12 mins, then drain.
Spice things up!
- Drain and rinse the beans and lentils.
- Add the garlic, ginger, chillies (to taste) and curry powder to the frying pan and cook for 2 mins.
- Tip in the beans and lentils. Crumble in half the stock cube, pour in 300ml boiled water (use all the stock and 450ml water for 4 portions) and simmer for 5-7 mins (6-8 mins for 4 portions), until the sauce loosely coats the lentils.
- Finely chop the coriander and add half to the lentils.
Add your finishing touches
- Gather the spinach into a tight bunch, roughly chop and stir through the rice.
- Serve the dhal on the rice and sprinkle over the remaining coriander.