Recipe by Nathan Dsouza
Ingredients:
200 gms moong dal
1 large onion (finely chopped)
1 large tomato (finely chopped)
6 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1" ginger (finely chopped)
2 green chillis (finely chopped)
1 long red chilli
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ajwain/ carom seeds
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1/4 tbsp turmeric powder
1/2 gm hing/asafoetida
1-2 tbsp ghee
20-30 gms coriander leaves (finely chopped)
Steps:
Ingredients:
200 gms moong dal
1 large onion (finely chopped)
1 large tomato (finely chopped)
6 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1" ginger (finely chopped)
2 green chillis (finely chopped)
1 long red chilli
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ajwain/ carom seeds
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1/4 tbsp turmeric powder
1/2 gm hing/asafoetida
1-2 tbsp ghee
20-30 gms coriander leaves (finely chopped)
Steps:
- Wash and soak the dal for 1-2 hours. Boil the dal until just cooked with a little turmeric and salt. Do not make it too watery.
- In a kadai, heat oil and add the cumin seeds and ajwain.
- After a few seconds, add the red chilli, broken roughly into a few pieces and immediately after, add the onion and saute well until the onion is golden brown.
- Add the tomato and a little splash of water, cook until the tomato is slightly mushy and then add all the masala (see notes). Stir well and cook the masala until the oil separates, adding splashes of water incase it begins to catch on the bottom.
- Once the masala is thoroughly cooked, add the boiled dal and some water. Season with salt to taste and continue boiling till it thickens. Do not add too much salt as once it thickens, it will concentrate slightly.
- In a small frying pan or tadka pan, heat ghee.
- Add the garlic, ginger and green chilli. Saute them until golden and fragrant. Dip the entire pan into the dal to give the tadka or chhonk. This provides additional flavor and aroma to the dish.
- Stir well to combine the tadka into the dal. Check the seasoning and add salt if required. Finish with coriander.
- ENJOY!
Notes:
- You can use other dals like Toor, Channa or Masoor. A combination works well too!
- For the powdered spices, it helps to combine them separately in a bowl with some hot water and then add it to the pan, this ensures that it doesn't catch and burn immediately as this tends to happen with powdered spices.
- This makes a mildly spicy dal, you can make it spicier if you prefer.
- You can choose to add more or less ghee as you prefer.