An easy, healthy recipe for a basic staple of North Indian meals – yellow lentils flavoured with cumin and turmeric.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup yellow moong dal (about 120g) Click here to buy
- 5 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric Click here to buy
- 1/2 teaspoon chili, ground Click here to buy
- 1 teaspoon ginger, sliced or finely chopped
- 1 green chili, slit in half
- ½ teaspoon salt
To temper:
- 1 tablespoon ghee Click here to buy
- ½ teaspoon whole cumin Click here to buy
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds Click here to buy
- 1 dry whole red chili Click here to buy
- 1 bay leaf Click here to buy
- Wash dal 3-4 times in water, until the water is clear. Allow dal to soak in water for 10-15 minutes.
- Place dal, turmeric, ground chili, ginger, green chili, and salt with water in a saucepan and bring it to boil on high heat. Lower heat, stir occasionally so dal does not stick to the pan, and cook uncovered until the dal is soft -about 25 minutes. If dal is dry while cooking, add ¼ cup water.
- To temper: Heat ghee or oil on medium heat in a small saucepan. Add cumin, fenugreek seeds, dry chili, and bay leaf and fry until cumin starts browning, about 1 minute. Add to dal and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve hot with rice or chapatis.
Critical Ingredients:
Different dals have different soaking and cooking times, and water requirements. So if you change the dal, be sure to check if it needs any additional water while cooking. Many lentils need to be soaked overnight, but moong cooks quite fast. Fenugreek in the recipe is optional, but cumin gives the necessary punch to the dal. The bay leaf can be left out. Instead, you can garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves for more flavour. The green chili is for flavour, but as there is ground red chili and red chili for heat, this can be left out. If you are vegan, feel free to use an un-flavoured oil instead of ghee.