Chana dal with Lauki

This recipe is inspired from http://kajaldreams.blogspot.com/

I was sceptical about the red chilli-garlic paste, but since I had seen through her other recipes and had liked them, I decided to give it a try. It did taste good!!

Ingredients

Lauki cubed 1 cup
Chana Dal (Bengal gram) 1 cup
1\2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Lemon juice to taste
Oil, cumin seeds, dry red chillies for seasoning
1 tbsp garlic red chilli paste (I ground about 4 cloves of garlic and 4-5 red chillies to a coarse paste)

Method

1. Cook the chana dal in 3 cups of water till almost mushy.
2. Heat oil in kadai. Add the seasonings, and stir till done.
3. Add lauki, turmeric powder, salt, garlic-red chilli paste and cook till laukis get soft and the raw smell of garlic goes.
4. Add the chana dal. Mix well and cook for 5-6 mins.
5. Add a dash of lemon juice to your taste.

Serve hot with chapiti.

Green moong dal

This simple dal is a favourite of my mom's side.... And it gets finished up in no time at my place too...

Ingredients
Whole green moong dal 1 cup (washed well and soaked for 6-8 hours)
Chilli powder 1 - 2 tsp (to taste)
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Cumin powder 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida (a pinch)
Salt to taste
Onion 1 medium chopped
Tomato 1 medium chopped
Oil 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds, Jeera for seasoning
Cilantro to garnish
Jaggery to taste.(1/4 tsp) (optional)

Method

1. Cook the moong dal in pressure cooker for about 15-20 mins with 3 cups of water, salt, asafoetida, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder.
2. Heat oil in a kadai, add the seasonings and once done, saute the onions till translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes and saute for another 4-5 mins. 
4. Once the tomatoes start breaking, add the cooked dal. Mix well. Adjust salt and water.
5. Simmer for few minutes. I add a wee bit of jaggery at this stage. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with chapiti or rice.

Chan-toor dal

Got this recipe from showmethecurry.com. Very simple and hearty, I made it for the yumm biriyani.


Ingredients:
Toor Daal – 1 cup
Channa Daal – 1/2 cup
Green Chili – 2 or to taste, slit
Tomato – 1 large, chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp, minced
Salt – to taste
Water – 3.5 cups

Seasoning:
Oil – 1 tbsp
Panch Puran – 2 tsp
Asafoetida (hing) – 1/8th tsp
Turmeric Powder (haldi) – ½ tsp
Red Chili Powder – to taste
Jaggery – 2 tsp
Garam Masala – 2 tsp
Lemon or Lime Juice – to taste
A few curry leaves
Cilantro – for garnish


Method:
1. Wash, rinse and soak both Daals in water for one hour.
2. Drain out the water and add to Pressure Cooker.
3. Add Green Chili, Minced Ginger, Tomatoes, Salt and Turmeric.
4. Mix well and close and allow it to whistle 1 time and ten turn off the flame. (Non-whistle type of Pressure Cooker, cook for 10 minutes)
5. Allow the pressure to release naturally.
6. In a separate saucepan, heat Oil.
7. Once hot, add Panch Poron mix and allow it to sizzle and pop.
8. Add a pinch of Asafoetida, immediately after that the curry leaves.
9. Fry for just a few seconds, then pour hot mix into the dal.
10. Into the Daal, add the Jaggery and Garam Masala. Cook on medium heat.
11. Allow the Daal to cook for another 5 minutes. Adjust spices and flavors.
12. Add a dash of Lemon or Lime Juice and mix well.
13. At time of serving, garnish with Cilantro.

Val beans gravy

 I discovered this bean in one of my hunting expeditions in the blogosphere for good(and easy) recipes. Most recipes which use this bean call for tamarind and I took it for granted that this bean needed sour. Took courage and purchased the bean and havent regretted it one bit. I tried my own recipe flinging masalas to get the taste "right". Do take a look at the glossary to get the name of the bean in different languages.

Ingredients
Val bean 1 cup soaked for 6 hours
Onion 1 big chopped fine
Tomato 1 big chopped fine
Cumin powder 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Chilli powder 1-2 tsp (to taste)
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Jaggery to taste
Coconut milk powder (or milk cream) (optional)
Ginger garlic paste 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tbsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method

1. Pressure cook the val beans till tender and not mushy. We need them whole but soft. 10-15 mins should do the trick.
2. Heat oil in a kadai. Crackle jeera. 
3. Add onions and saute till translucent. 
4. Add tomatoes and cumin powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste, salt and saute till oil separates.
5. Add the cooked val beans and simmer for 5 mins. Adjust salt and water.
6. Add coconut milk powder or cream if you want a creamy touch to the gravy. 
7. Add jaggery to taste.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with chapitis.

Masoor dal tadka

Aaah!! This is something I generally tried and we all loved it. I had whole masoor dal and I really, really was intrigued with the panch phoran masala that seems to be a staple of Bengali seasonings.

  

Ingredients

Masoor dal 1 cup soaked in water for an hour

Oil for seasoning

Panch phoran mix(Fenugreek seeds, Mustard seeds, Jeera seeds, Fennel seeds, Kalonji seeds - all in equal proportion) amounting to 1 and half tsp

Chopped garlic

Turmeric powder and asafoetida

Curry leaves

Cilantro

Method

1. Cook the masoor dal with salt, turmeric powder, asafoetida, 2 cups of water for 10-15 mins in pressure cooker.
2. Heat oil in a kadai. Add the panch phoran mix, curry leaves, chopped garlic and fry for a minute.
3. Add the cooked dal. Mix, adjust salt and water. Bring to a boil.
4. Garnish with cilantro.

Mixed bean curry

I mixed up a few beans : lobia beans, oriental beans, black eyed beans, and green moong(just for the heck of it). Soaked in water for a few hours, the colours looked beautiful while soaking. Simmered in tomato based gravy, they were delicious. Here is how I made it. Ingredients Lobia beans ½ cup Red beans(karamani) ½ cup Oriental beans ¼ cup Moong ½ cup Onion 1 big chopped Tomatoes 2 big chopped Chilli powder 1 tsp Cumin powder ½ tsp Coriander powder 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp Chopped coriander leaves Salt to taste Jeera ½ tsp Saunf ½ tsp Oil 1 tbsp Red beans
	Oriental beans
	Green moong
	Lobia beans
Method Wash and soak the dals for atleast 6 hours. If you don’t have as much time, soak them in sunlight. Once they are soft, wash them again, add cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, saunf and cook in pressure cooker with 2-3 cups of water. It should be cooked till soft and mashable. In a kadai, heat oil, add jeera, onions and sauté. Once done add the tomatoes and ginger garlic paste, salt and stir for 3-4 mins. Add the cooked beans, adjust salt and water and simmer for few mins. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve hot with chapitis or rice.

Moong dal with Chow-chow

This is a very simple and delicious kootu, goes well with phulkas. No masala whatsoever!
I learnt it from my Ma.

Ingredients
Moong dal(split, yellow) 1/2 cup
Chow-chow chopped 1 cup
Sambar powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Chopped onion 1 small
Green chillies to taste
Curry leaves few
Mustard seeds
Oil 1 tbsp

Method

1. Wash the moong dal well. 
2. Add the moong dal, or chow-chow, sambar powder, salt, a cup of water and cook for 10-15 mins, till the dal and chow-chow are cooked well.
3. Heat oil. Once hot, add the mustard seeds, chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves and saute.
4. Add to the cooked dal.

Serve hot with phulkas.

Methi - Masoor dal

Yeah, I know. I am guilty of cooking masoor dal way too often. Parrr.. mein kya karoon?? Its so easy and so delicious, I keep thinking up of variations of the dal.
Had a quarter bunch of fenugreek leaves(methi), wanted to see how the two go together. Well, it turned out delicious, creamy, and so on....

Here is how I made it. If you want, you can make it less spicy, go with the more basic and native ingredients. I am very sure it will come out delicious, creamy et all...

Ingredients
Masoor dal half cup
Moong dal 1 tbsp
Methi leaves chopped 1 cup
Onion 1 big chopped
Tomatoes 2 big chopped
Green chillies 2 chopped fine
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tsp
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Turmeric powder quarter tsp
Coriander powder 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder 1/4 tsp
Garam masala 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1 tsp, Saunf 1/2 tsp for seasoning.
Oil for frying.

Method

1. Wash the methi well. Salt it, mix and keep aside.
2. Wash the dals together well. The water should run clear. Cook with 2 cups water, turmeric powder and asafoetida. The dals cook very quickly.
3. Heat oil in a kadai. Add the jeera, saunf. Once they are done add the onions and fry till transparent.
4. Once it is done, add the green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes.
5. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala and mix well.
6. Once oil starts separating, rinse the salted fenugreek leaves and add them to the masala. Do not use the water which was sweated out by the methi. Pour little water and cook for 5 mins.
7. Add the cooked dal. Adjust salt and water. Simmer for a few mins. 
8. You can add a few drops of lemon juice just before serving.

Serve hot with phulkas. 

Palak - Masoor dal

I found the list of ingredients at Tarla Dalal's website and grew very intrigued. I have fallen in love with masoor dal and wanted to try this.

This is how I understood the recipe. And I sure did like the results.

Ingredients

½ cup masoor dal (split red lentils) 1 cup spinach (palak), chopped 1 teaspoon ginger-green chilli- garlic paste a pinch turmeric powder (haldi) 1 tablespoon tamarind (imli) pulp (I used imli - kajoor chutney) salt to taste

For the tempering

1/2 teaspoon saunf 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) 3 dry red chillies, broken 6 to 8 curry leaves   1 tsp oil Method

1. Wash the masoor dal well in water. It should run clear. 
2. Heat oil in a cooker, add jeera, saunf, red chillies, curry leaves and fry.
3. Once that is done, add the ginger-green chilli-garlic paste till raw smell goes.
4. Add the dal + palak, turmeric, salt, 2 cups of water. 
5. Cook till 1 in high heat whistle and 2 whistles in low heat.
6. Add water if dal is too thick.  Add the tamarind extract. Simmer for few mins.
7. Goes very well with phulkas. Light and healthy!

Masoor-Moong dal

Masoor dal is not a dal we make at my place. And when I came across several recipes which mentioned "delicious", "creamy" etc, I was intrigued. Bought a packet of orangish split masoor dal and after again going through several recipes, decided that I can safely try my ingenuity on this. And yes, it is 'delicious', 'creamy' and so on... Try it sometime. Very wholesome and simple (I managed to add two adjectives to it!!).

Ingredients
Masoor dal - 1 cup
Moong dal (split,yellow) - 1/2 cup or even lesser.
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2 chopped
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves chopped - handful

Method

1.  Wash the dals together in water well. The water should run clear. Soak in 2 cups of water.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. I use my tiny hawkins.
3. Once it is hot, add jeera and let it crackle. Add onion and fry till translucent.
4. Add tomatoes, salt, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and cook till done.
5. Add the soaked dal along with the water. Mix well. Close the lid and on high heat bring it to one whistle. After that, reduce the heat to low and wait for two more whistles. Switch off the stove.
6. Once the pressure is released, open the cooker. Add coriander leaves. You can add a few drops of lime juice.
7. Serve hot with phulkas or lachchaa paranthas.

Note :

• The dal should be cooked and creamy. You should not see dal and water separately. If you do, you need to cook it more. 
• If the dal is too thick, add water, mix well and simmer on low heat.
• I added moong dal just to give it some body. Masoor dal alone can make the dish too creamy.
• You can add your own spices to your taste. The dal has a very native delicious flavour and goes well with most spices.