Slow-cooker chili is great, but if you're looking for a "set it and forget it" recipe with a little more spice, pick up a copy of author Neela Paniz's The New Indian Slow Cooker. This collection of classic Indian recipes made even simpler with your slow-cooker is a surefire way to ease into fall and winter cuisine.
Chandan used to cook some of the specialties from his home region in the mountains just south of the Himalayas, including this particular dal. It takes its flavor from the addition of fresh spinach leaves and the roasting of garlic and ginger in the ghee; the heat comes from the crushed red chiles. Although this dish is great by itself, serving it with lamb chops with browned onions and tomatoes or roast chicken, along with either rice or flat bread, makes for a scrumptious meal.
The spinach needs to be added after the beans are cooked and while the cooker is still on the warm mode. This prevents the leaves from totally disintegrating into the dal.