Categories: daal
Ingredients
- For the Base
- 1 cup Red Lentils / masoor dal (See Tips)
- 1 Onion
- 2 medium Tomatoes
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- Salt to taste
- Lemon juice to taste (optional - see Tips)
- For Tempering
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1-2 Dried red Chilli (or use Green Chilli)
- 2 inch Ginger, julienned (see Tips)
- pinch of Asafoetida
- few sprigs of Curry Leaves (optional, see Tips)
- few sprigs of Cilantro, for garnish
- 2 tbsp Ghee (see Tips)
Directions
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Tips
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Instead of Red Lentils, some variations use Yellow lentils, Split and skinned Green Gram lentils etc. You can use them on their own or with combination. I sometimes add few spoons of Green gram to this dish.
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I like the fried taste of julienned ginger hence add them along with the tempering ingredients. But you can instead chop them/grate them and add it along with the garlic while preparing the base.
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The restaurant version use about 4-5 tbsps of Ghee for tempering which gives it that gourmet taste. At home I tend to use 1-2 tsp. of oil (to make it Vegan too) instead for regular consumption using the 2 tbsp of ghee when I entertain. You can use a combination of ghee and oil or only oil for your preparation depending on your preference.
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Adding lemon juice or any kind of citrus helps in the absorption of iron from the lentils hence I tend to add lemons juice to all my dals. I especially love adding Meyer Lemons to it. It makes the dal taste even better.
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If making it Punjabi Style, skip the curry leaves. Few punjabi versions tend to also add Garam Masala (about 2-3 tsp.) and kalonji (1/4 tsp.) to the dal.
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Method
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1
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Wash the lentils well in cold water until the water runs clear. Red Lentils tend to require a little tedious cleaning process.
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Heat 1 tbsp of ghee (or oil) in a saucepan and add onions, tomatoes and garlic along with salt and turmeric – about 2 minutes. I usually tend to skip the oil for this. The salt helps the onions to sweat and hence I personally feel that fat perse is not needed to make it soft.
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Add the chopped tomatoes and saute for another 2 minutes
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Add the lentils along with 3 cups of water
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You can adjust the amount of water once the lentils are cooked depending on the consistency you prefer
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Stir and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, close with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. I have this lid with a hole on top which prevents the lentils from boiling over cos of steam. If you do not have such a lid, make sure to partially close the lid/ or open cook to allow the steam from escaping. Otherwise it will boil over the pan
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Once the lentils are cooked, give them a stir and adjust the amount of water as per your liking.
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In another pan, heat the remaining ghee. Add mustard seeds and when they start popping, add the cumin, ginger, red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves.
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Add it to the dal. Give it a quick stir and serve hot garnished with cilantro.