Dal Fry with Three Dals- A Delicious Mixed Lentil Soup

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. While the cooking continues, I find myself trying to manage time to be able to do all the tasks at hand. I finally got some time today and decided to pen down this delicious dal fry recipe that I had made for an elaborate dinner a few months ago. Everyone loved it, especially the kids. I got the best compliments from my friend's eight year old who asked her mom to get the recipe so that she could have it at home as well. Well, finally here it is. I made it again last week and thought this is a great recipe to make during these cold winter evenings. Just the thought of steaming hot, delicious dal served with some jeera rice, makes my mouth water. A perfect weeknight comfort meal indeed!

Ingredients
1 cup tur dal/arhar dal/ pigon peas
1/2 cup mung dal - split, peeled yellow mung dal
1/2 cup chana dal/split pea
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp tsp oil
1/8 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1-2 green chillies
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 inch ginger, finely minced or crushed
1 red onion, diced finely
2 tomates, diced finely
cilantro/corriander leaves, chopped to garnish
5-6 cups  water
2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

Method
Mix together the tur dal, chana dal and mung dal. Wash the mixture at least 2-3 times. Then add double the quantity of water compared to the dal, so in this case, 4 cups of  water, hing and turmeric and cook it. I generally use the pressure cooker  to cook the dal (see tips for how to cook the dal if you don't have a pressure cooker). Once cooked, mash the dal a little with a spoon and keep aside. In a deep pan, heat some oil. Then add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once they start to brown and change color, add the chillies, onions and the ginger and garlic. Cook this till the onions become transparent and start to change color and the raw ginger garlic smell goes away. Then add the tomatoes and cook them well. Then add the garam masala and fry for a couple of minutes till you can smell the aroma of the masala. Now, add the dal and mix well. Add some water if the dal is too thick. Generally, dal fry is thicker dal (similar to creamy  soups) and not very watery. Add the salt and bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some cilantro for garnish. Serve hot with rice, pulao, roti or naan.

Tips
If you don't  have a pressure cooker, this is how you can cook the dal without having to boil it for hours. Soak the dal for an hour in warm water. Then in a deep pan, boil the dal with at least two times the water, turmeric and hing. Stir occasionally, so that the dal at the bottom of the pan doesn't burn. Turn off the heat when the dal is cooked through, soft and can be easily mashed (about 30-40 minutes) .
As the dal cools down it will thicken. So when you reheat the dal, add a little water and then reheat it. Since the onion and tomato have not been browned, the dal will retain the yellow color. If you do brown it, then that is also okay.

Mung Dal with Garlic

Sometimes one comes across a dish in their life that stays with them forever. The taste and fragrance of the food gets so deeply embedded in your mind that just a whiff of a similar smell and it can take you back to the first time you tasted it. This dish for me is this particular prepartion of mung dal (split yellow mung). I still remember the first time I tasted it. I was a kid in school and had accompanied my parents to a place near Nashik (a city in Maharashtra). For the week that we were there, we lived in the guest house which had a large dining hall. We had to go to the dining hall for every meal and I was absolutely fascinated by the place. It was large, had lots of tables and the plates and bowls used to always be arranged on the tables, but were always kept inverted. We needed to place them back in the upright, correct position and then the servers would come out and serve us the food. I can't remember a lot about the trip, but the memory of this dal is deeply entrenched in memory and my senses. Ever since I started experimenting with recipes, I have been trying to determine the right ingredients and proportions, so that I could taste it again. And I finally got the exact taste last week!!  I am delirious with joy that I was able to recreate the recipe. While it is extremely simple, it is delicious and the perfect comfort food to take me back into the cosy comfort of childhood.

Ingredients
1 cup mung dal - split, peeled yellow mung dal
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
1/2 tsp turmeric
2-3 tsp oil
1/4 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
3 large garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 green chilli, slit lenghtwise into two
10 curry leaves
1/4 cup cilantro/corriander leaves, chopped
3-4 cups  water
salt to taste

Method
Wash the mung dal three times and then add two cups of water, asafoetida and turmeric to it. Pressure cook it if possible as it will be the fastest method to cook ot. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can boil it on the stove top till it is cooked through and is soft and mushy. You may need to add more water if needed.

In a deep pan, heat the oil, add the jeera seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the curry leaves. Then add the garlic and green chilli and let that fry for a minute. We don't want the garlic to start turning brown. As soon as the garlic looks cooked, add the cooked mung dal. Then add water. Add at least 1 cup of water. You may want to add more water if you want a thinner consistency. Add salt. Bring the dal to a boil. Turn off the heat and immediately add the cilantro leaves. Serve hot with rice or roti/chapati. You can also serve it as a lentil soup. It is just delicious on its own.

Tips
If you are not pressure cooking the dal, you can soak it for an hour before you cook it. That will reduce the cooking time. You can also use dry red chilli instead of green chilli, but that will change the taste of the dal slightly. Mung dal thickens up as it cools down and you may want to add additional water to thin it out while reheating.