Traditionally made from lentils and/or split peas, daal is packed full of protein, iron and other nutrients. Serve it up with some hot rotis or rice for a healthy tasty vegetarian dinner or lunch.
This particular recipe uses a mix of red lentils, split mung beans, split black gram lentils, pigeon peas but you can use as little or as many different lentil varieties.
Ingredients
Daal preparation
1 cup of mixed 5 lentil daal
1 large tomato (chopped)
1 – 1.5 teaspoons rock salt
½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
Tempering
1 tablespoon of ghee
½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 dried chilli
1/3 teaspoon of turmeric
½ teaspoon chilli powder
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of garam masala or daal masala (optional)
Small onion (i.e. shallot) chopped
½ teaspoon of dried curry leaves or 1-2 fresh curry leaves
1 large clove garlic (chopped)
1 inch piece of ginger (crushed or grated)
Instructions
Take 1 cup of 5 lentil daal and rinse 3 times in water. Remove the water used for each rinse and replace with fresh water
Add 4-5 cups of water to the rinsed daal and bring to boil in a saucepan.
Once the water is boiling bring down the heat and let simmer for 30 mins The daal should be slightly mushy at this stage, you can use a whisk or a blender to create a more “soupy” texture. Once done, turn off the gas.
Tempering:
Heat ghee in a small frying pan, add cumin seeds and fry them until they enlarge and turns dark
Add turmeric, chilli powder, dried chilli, cinnamon, curry leaves and fry until aromatic
Add onion and stir for 1-2 mins on medium heat
Add garlic and ginger and stir for another 1-2 mins on medium heat
Using a ladle, take some of the boiled daal and add to the tempering mix swirl it around. Add the daal and tempering mix to the remaining boiled daal and bring to boil
Add salt and roasted cumin powder
Boil the daal until you reach desired consistency, adding more water if required
Serve with hot rice or rotis or just as a soup.