Red Dal/ Lentil Curry

The first time I had the following dish was at a friend’s place & back then I had decided to try it out. Even though there was stiff resistance on my husband’s behalf (not at all a lentil fan), I went ahead. This dish is very subtle in taste and is best when served with plain rice and a dollop of yogurt - very filling and healthy too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup red masoor dal/lentils (washed and soaked for about 30 minutes )
• 2 cups of water
• 1 onion medium finely chopped
• 2 green chillies split
• 1 tsp. ginger finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes medium finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp. veg oil
• A pinch of mustard seeds
• A pinch of cumin seeds
• 2 tsp. chilli powder
• ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. Kashmiri chilli powder
• Coriander leaves to garnish

In a deep bottom pan, add 2 cups of water, chopped onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and dal. Cover and cook for about 40-50 minutes. (You can see scum forming on top of the curry, don’t worry just scoop it out. And after 40 minutes, check if the dal is cooked. You don’t want a mushy dal after all.)

Add salt. (We are adding salt at this stage only otherwise it will toughen the dal/ lentils resulting in the lengthening of the cooking time.)

In a tempering pan, add veg oil, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds. Temper it; add chilli, turmeric and Kashmiri chilli powder. Saute for only 30 seconds and not more. Make sure that you don’t burn the spices.

Add to the curry and add coriander leaves. Check for salt and let the curry sit for a while.

Serve with plain rice and yogurt…!!!!