Masoor Masala

Today's recipe is a lentil (whole red lentils or sabut masoor dal) recipe which is mildly spiced and goes well with breads, Indian breads or with rice too.  A power packed side-dish.  It is very simple and probably a day to day curry which most of you might be cooking it as a regular dish.  But today when I cooked it along with kulcha's I thought why don’t I transform it into a post.  So here goes, my version of this yum and wonderful recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Sabut masoor dal/whole red lentil	1 cup
Onions	2 medium
Tomato	1 big
Ginger garlic paste	1 tsp or 1/2 tsp each
Coriander & cumin powder	1 tsp or 1/2 tsp each
Garam masala	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder	1 tsp
Salt	3/4 tsp or as per preference
Oil	1 tbsp
Coriander leaves	To garnish

METHOD:

1.       Wash and soak the lentils for half an hour(these lentils do not need to be soaked overnight).

2.       Cook these lentils in the pressure cooker up-to 4-5 whistles.  They should be soft yet hold its shape.  If cooking them in a pan, cover the lentils with enough water and cook it till soft.

3.       In the meanwhile, finely chop the onions and tomatoes.  Reserve.

4.       In a pan/kadai, pour a tbsp of oil and bring to heat.  Add the ginger garlic paste, sauté, add in the chopped onions and sauté till they turn soft.  Add in the tomatoes and sauté till soft and mushy.

5.       At this point, add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander & cumin powder and sauté well. 

6.       Add the cooked lentils to this masala and about 1/2 cup of water and mix well. 

7.       Add the garam masala and salt and stir well.  Let it come to a boil.  Add more water if you find the dish too thick.  (this dish should be semi thick).

8.       Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice, breads or Indian breads.

NOTES:

1.       You could use about an inch of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic which are finely chopped, in place of ginger garlic paste.

2.       Pl add chilli powder as per your level of pungency.

3.       I added about 3/4 cup of water.

4.       Masoor masala is served here with kulcha's (Indian Bread)

5.       The recipe that I have given here serves 3 people.

 

Kholombo (Sambhar)

Back with the continuation of the lunch menu that I had put up.  Without further talk from me, here goes the recipe for how I made the sambhar powder mix and the sambhar.

INGREDIENTS: (for the masala)

Coriander seeds	2 tbsp	Mustard seeds	1/2 tsp
Red chillies	6 nos	Cumin seeds	1 tsp
Black gram dal	1 tsp	Curry leaves	1 sprig
Bengal gram dal	1 tsp	Turmeric powder	1/2 tsp
Pepper	1/2 tsp	Asafoetida	1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds	1/2 tsp	Oil	1 tsp

METHOD:
1.       In a pan, take a tsp of oil.  Fry all the ingredients except turmeric powder and asafoetida) separately to a light brown colour.  Do this on low flame carefully so as not to burn the spices
2.       Once cooled, grind the spices to a fine powder.

INGREDIENTS: (for the sambhar) 

Red gram dal/lentil	1/2 cup
Sambhar/kholombo powder	2 tsp full
Onion	1 thinly sliced
Tomato	1 cut into cubes
Carrot	1 cut into cubes
Brinjal	1 cut into cubes
Tamarind	Size of a lemon
Salt	1 tsp
Ghee	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	1/ tsp
Asafoetida	1/4 tsp
Curry leaves	6-7 nos

METHOD:
1.       Cook the dal in a pressure cooker till soft. 
2.       Cut the veggies and put them in a vessel, pour water so as to cover the veggies.  Cook them on medium flame till soft.
3.       Once the veggies are soft add the tamarind pulp.  (soak the tamarind in hot water and squeeze out to remove the pulp)
4.       After a boil add the freshly made sambhar/kholombo powder and stir well.  Bring it to a boil.
5.       Mash the cooked dal and add it to the cooked veggies.  Add salt and adjust according to your preference.  Boil well.
6.       For tempering add ghee in a pan and once hot add the mustard seeds.  Once they splutter and the asafoetida and curry leaves and pour it over the kholombo.  Cover immediately.
7.       Serve hot with rice.  Enjoy.

NOTES:
1.       While frying the ingredients, oil should be added only once.
2.       You could add any veggies of your choice.
3.       If you have excess powder remaining you could store it in an airtight container. 
4.       You could increase the amount of chillies or pepper according to your taste.

Teenratna Dal

Today's recipe is a dal preparation.  I know you all might be wondering there is panchratna dal, what is this teenratna dal.   Actually this dal is prepared with three dals (lentils) put together in equal quantities and hence I have named it so.  My hubby dear calls it "Golden Wonder".  Very easy and can be made in a jiffy.  So here is how the recipe goes.

Serves: 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Pigeon peas (toor dal)	1/4 cup
Green gram dal (moong dal)	1/4 cup
Pink lentils (masoor dal)	1/4 cup
Onion (finely chopped)	1 medium
Tomato (finely chopped)	1 medium
Garlic (finely chopped)	3-4 cloves
Cumin seeds	1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	1 tsp
Coriander seeds	1 tsp
Cumin & coriander powder	1 tsp
Coriander leaves	A little
Salt	1 1/2 tsp
Ghee	1 tbsp

METHOD:

1.       Wash the lentils together a couple of times and pressure cook it till soft and mushy.
2.       While the lentils get cooked.  Dry roast coriander and grind it into a fine powder, chop the onion and tomato into fine pieces.
3.       In a kadai (wok), add 1/2 a tbsp of ghee and add the cumin seeds.  Once they splutter add finely chopped garlic, sauté it for a second and add the onions.  Sauté the onions till translucent. 
4.       Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and ground coriander seeds powder.  Blend well. 
5.       Add the tomatoes and a little water and cook the tomatoes till soft.  At this stage add the powder of cumin and coriander.
6.       Mash the cooked dal and add it to the onion and tomato mixture.  Add salt and a little water.  Mix well so that the onion and tomato mixture blends well with the dal.
7.       Adjust seasoning.  Garnish with coriander leaves.
8.       Serve hot with rice or rotis.

NOTES:

1.       Coriander and cumin powder is half tsp each.


 

Dal Makhani

This is an easy dal recipe.  A buttery Punjabi dal if I may say so.  In India, we usually love to have a dal (lentil) in our daily diet, be it red or yellow lentils.  Since we tend to keep it simple on a daily basis. Occasionally making dal makhani is a welcome change.  Probably when you want to have restaurant like food at home. This dish has a rich texture and lengthy preparation process.  Usually, the authentic way to cook this dal is overnight.  But thanks to the modern amenities, cooking this at home would take about 2-3 hours, and tastes good too.  Though I must add that, the dal cooked the traditional way is the best. 

Originally introduced by Kundal Lal Gujral who opened the Moti Mahal Restaurant.  This lentil preparation is loved by almost everyone.  So here goes the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Whole black gram lentil (sabut urad)	½ cup
Red kidney beans (rajma)	2 tbsp
Ginger (grated)	2 inch
Butter	3 tbsp
Oil	1 tbsp
Cumin seeds	1 tsp
Onion (finely chopped)	1 big
Tomatoes (pureed)	¾
Garlic (finely chopped)	6 cloves
Garam masala powder	1 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Cream	½ cup
Salt	1 tsp

METHOD:
1.      Wash whole black gram dal n rajma well and soak it overnight in 3 cups of water.
2.      Cook them in a pressure cooker along with half the ginger for up-to 10-15 whistles.  It should be very soft.  Just mash them a little once removed from the cooker.
3.      Heat a kadai, add butter and oil.  Add cumin seeds, when they begin to change colour add finely chopped onion and fry till golden brown.  Add the remaining ginger, garlic and pureed tomatoes.
4.      Saute well till the fat leaves the gravy.  Add the cooked dals to this gravy.  Add salt and a cup of water to this.
5.      Add garam masala and mix well.  Let this simmer well on low flame for at least 15 mins.
6.      Keeping aside two tbsp of cream, add the rest of the cream to the dal along with the chilli powder and mix well.
7.      Let the dal simmer for another 10 minutes more.  Remove into a serving bowl and garnish with cream.  Serve hot with naan, parantha or any roti of your choice.

NOTES:

1.      The dal and rajma should be very soft. 
2.      You could make this dish only in butter, but mixing butter and oil will help the butter not to burn.