Delicious Dals

[truebluemoon]

Inspired by the contributions of so many people on this forum, I decided to do some work too and thus this thread.
I have been interested in cooking ever since I was 11. (My mom is a moody cook and that helped a lot ) I started learning the complicated dishes like gobi manchurian, stuffed capsicum etc just out of curiosity. In the process I have been collecting vegetarian and egg recipes for about 15 yrs now.....from tv shows, from cook books, from newspaper and magazine cut-outs and some by experimenting myself.
I will start to post all the dal recipes in my collection on this thread. There may be about 20-25 of them

Lets see how it goes.

Feed back from readers is appreciated.

[truebluemoon]

A very simple dal that can be served along with dinner with some vegetable side. The cooking procedure is fairly simple

JEERA DAL

Prep time: 45 mins Start to finish: 3 hrs

Makes 3-4 servings

1/3 cup masoor dal
1/3 cup toor dal
2 medium sized onions, sliced lengthwise
2 medium sized tomatoes, sliced lengthwise (remove pulp before slicing)
1 tsp cumin seeds;
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp sugar(optional)
6 flakes of garlic, crushed and chopped
3-4 green chillies, finely chopped
a few sprigs of curry leaves
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil/butter

1. Wash and soak the dals atleast for 2 hrs. Cook with lots of water. It should be of a consistency not too thin or not too thick

2. Heat oil in a pan and season with cummin seeds. Add green chillies and garlic. Stir fry for a few seconds on medium heat.

3. Add onions, salt and sugar. Fry till onion turns light brown. Add turmeric powder and the cooked dal.

4. Stir well and simmer on low heat. Add the tomatoes, curry leaves and coriander leaves. Simmer for 5 mins

5. Serve hot with roti or rice

TIP :

Instead of throwing away the tomato pulp, you could save it and use if for rasam or to whip up some quick tomato "gojju".

If you like you dal sour, you could even mash the pulp and add to the dal.

In case you are entertaining and choose this to be the dal, garnish some more with cummin seeds fried in ghee and 2 green chillies slit vertically

[dev]

Great job... I make it a point to take atleast a dhal & a mixed veg,meat(fish ,cicken,eggs) & fruits daily to balance out the diet...So ur dhal recipes will surely help me...A different dhal a day is a good idea... Thanks a lot...

[tomato]

Thanx for the recipe tbm, can u post ur quickest and easiest dal recipe pls. I want one to go with mooli, aloo and methi parathas. Since making stuffed paratha takes quite some time i want a dal recipe which take the least time and yet is delicious at the same time.
Thanx in advance.

[truebluemoon]

Hi tomato, here's a very simple dal that can be served with both rice and rotis. It may not be quick for the simple reason that dal takes time to cook. If not, the prep time and actual cooking time is about 10 mins. You can go about the rest of the cooking while the dal cooks.

DAL FRY

A simple dal that can be served with rice/rotis.


Cooking Time from start to finish: 35 mins.
Serves 4.

Ingredients
3/4 cup red masoor dal
1/4 cup yellow moong dal
2-3 green chillies,
1 teaspoon grated ginger or ginger paste
1 teaspoon crushed garlic or garlic paste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (or cummin seeds if you prefer it more)
1-2 dry red chillies
1 onion, sliced lengthwise
1 tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons ghee
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
1 tbsp butter or cream for topping(optional)
Method
1. Wash the dals and cook with water along with ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt and broken green chillies. The dal should be well done and not too watery. Mash the dal a bit with the back of the ladel

2. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the mustard seeds,and red chilli.Add onions and fry till light brown.

3. Add tomato and fry for 2 mins. Add the dals and simmer on medium heat for 5 mins

4.Garnish with coriander and top with cream/butter (optional)

Serve hot with rotis/parathas

TIPS

* In case dal is being served with roti, it needs to be a little thicker
* Take note that dal thickens a bit as it cools or loses temperature
* Try using ghee rather than oil for tempering dal. It tastes better and the quantity of ghee isn't too much to be minded. (It rarely exceeds 1-2 tbsp)

[truebluemoon]

QUICK MASOOR DAL

1 cup whole masoor dal
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ginger, grated
2 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup tomatoes, grated
2-3 green chillies, slit
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp dhania powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

1. Wash dal and cook with water, salt and ginger until dal is soft

2. Heat oil in a pan. Season with cumin and bay leaves. Add tomatoes and stir fry till oil separates.

3. Add green chillies, garam masala, dhania powder and chilli powder and mix well.

4. Add dal and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 mins

5. Serve hot, with coriander leaves as garnish

[Thattai]

Hi TBM,

I don't want to hijack ur thread, but there are a few recipes that I could also share, if you don't mind... And pls don't be polite, I can always give them in other threads if required...

[truebluemoon]

Hey Thattai
Go ahead, this isn't "my" thread, besides I am caught up with things and not able to post on a daily basis
Maybe I can get more dal recipes from you now

[truebluemoon]

This is a variation of the hariyali dal. Instead of mixing in sauteed/cooked greens with dal, the greens are pureed to give this dal a unique green color

GREEN PUDINA DAL

Prep time: 45 mins

Serves 2

1/2 cup toor dal
1 cup spinach leaves
1/3 cup pudina leaves
3 green chillies
1/4 cup coriander leaves
1 tsp cummin seeds
4 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream/butter (optional)
salt to taste
1 tbsp ghee/oil


1. Soak toor dal in cold water for an hr. Cook with sufficient water and salt.

2. Blanch all the green leaves and let it cool. Puree the mixture with green chillies and set aside.

3.Heat oil in a pan. Add cummin seeds, onions and garlic. Add about half the quantity of ginger. Fry till onion turns light brown.

4. Add dal to the pan and also the purred greens. Add salt and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

5. Once done, turn off heat and add lemon juice. Garnish with the rest of the ginger and a spot of cream if you like.

[Thattai]

Cool TBM - will do so soon... weekends are usually busy times, so will post something on Monday. Ciao!