Nutritious masoor dal coupled with a mouth-watering Indian spice mix often dished out as an accompaniment to fluffy rice or piping hot rotis!
Lazy Saturdays call for uncomplicated recipes. Well, nearly. Nowadays, it is common for most of us to order food on weekends at the touch of one’s phone screen – I’m no saint myself; my face screams guilty! However, I take it as a personal achievement that lately, I have adopted a healthier ‘cook at home’ approach, which I find immensely rewarding.
It is common here in India for most non-vegetarians to observe certain ‘veg’ days and rest ‘non-veg’ days. On one such ‘veg’ Saturday, I wondered how I could combine simple and tasty in one single recipe. I found the answer: Masoor dal!
As I embarked on an afternoon-long cooking journey, I remembered times when I would be afraid of using a pressure cooker. I would imagine it would burst open at the very first whistle! I was wrong, you see. It is easy to use a pressure cooker, and with enough practice, the water proportions come to you as you keep cooking.
That’s enough talk for today; without further ado, let’s get cooking! 🙂
How To Prepare Masoor Dal
1. First, we begin with the washing and soaking of the masoor dal. Once the masoor dal is cleaned by hand wherein any unwanted impurities are picked out, and the dal is washed until the water runs clean, we let it soak in clean water for about 10-15 minutes. Once done, transfer the soaked masoor dal into the pressure cooker and add about 2 cups of water or follow your instinct. Pressure cook for about 3-4 whistles. Switch off the flame and let the masoor dal cool down to room temperature. Then, we open the lid.
2. In a heated vessel, add 1 tbsp of ghee and 1 tbsp of cooking oil (I used rice bran oil). Once the oil warms up, add in the whole spices as mentioned in the recipe. Add in some garlic as well and make sure the spices do not burn.
3. Next, we add chopped onion, slit chilli, tomatoes, turmeric, and salt. As you already may be aware – salt helps speed up the cooking of the onion-tomato mixture.
4. Next, we add in the ground spices (masalas) and mix well, taking care to not burn anything. Once the onion-tomato mixture is well coated with the masalas and is mushy, we add in the cooked masoor dal with a little bit of its water. Do not add all the water from the pressure cooker at once.
5. We add in more water as required and let the dal simmer on a medium flame. Once we achieve the desired consistency, we switch off the flame and cover the vessel with its lid for the dal to settle. After some time, garnish the dal with some chopped fresh coriander and serve this delicious masoor dal with rice or rotis.
Masoor Dal | Red Lentil Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1/4 tsp badishep/saunf/fennel seeds
- 1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
- Pinch of hing/asafoetida
- 6-8 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cut green chilli, sliced in the middle
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- Salt to taste
- 5 tbsps masoor dal, pressure cooked
- Handful of coriander, finely chopped
Directions
- After cleaning by hand, wash about 5 tbsps of masoor dal till the water runs clean; keep soaked in water for 15 minutes (optional step) and then pressure cook it for 4 whistles.
- Meanwhile, prepare the base of the dal by heating up a kadhai/vessel.
- Add in 1 tbsp of ghee followed by 1 tbsp cooking oil.
- Once the oil is warm enough, add in 1/4 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, and a pinch of hing. Let the spices sizzle for a few seconds.
- Add in the chopped garlic. Stir a little.
- Next, add in the chopped onion and slit green chilli. Stir again.
- Once the onion turns translucent, add in the chopped tomato, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, some salt (do not add more if you have already added to the pressure cooked dal), and cook for about a minute.
- Next, add in 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, and 1/2 tsp garam masala.
- Cook well for a few minutes, taking care not to burn the masalas.
- Add in the cooked masoor dal with a little bit of its water. Add in more water as required.
- Let the dal simmer on medium flame for about 5-10 minutes until the dal thickens. Once you achieve the desired consistency, you may switch off the flame.
- Garnish with some chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or rotis.
Ankita's Kitchen 