Chana Dal Fry

I'm truly a dal fan & when I say dal it is not limited to just one, but my love is spread to the whole dal community. Every dal is unique in taste also the best protein source for vegetarians. Though I'm a "Ovo Lacto Vegetarian" I love adding them more than couple of times a week in our diet. 
Chana dal fry is a simple & easy punjabi style dal fry dish.Though the original recipe has onions & garlic, but the recipe I'm sharing is a "No Onion No Garlic" with less of masala too. 

Prep Time-1hr15mins {soaking+arranging}
Cook Time-1hr 
Serves-4people
Pairs with rice, roti, naan & chapati.
Ingredients 
1Cup chana dal 
2Cups water
4Tomatoes finely chopped 
1Tsp grated ginger 
2Green chili's slit to half
1/2Tsp turmeric 
1Tbs coriander cumin powder
1&1/2Tsp chili powder {adjust as needed}
1Tsp amchur powder or 2Tsp lemon juice {adjust as needed}
Salt to taste 
1Tsp mustard seeds 
1Tsp cumin/jeera
2Tbs oil
2Tbs coriander chopped for garnish
Directions 
- Clean chana dal with water & soak them with enough water for 30mins to 1hr. 
- Pressure cook chana dal with 2Cups water for 2whistles. 
- Heat pan with oil. Add mustard & cumin to it. Once the mustard starts add in green chili's & ginger to pan. Fry for few seconds. 
- Next add in tomatoes with enough salt & cook with a closed lid. 
- Once the tomatoes are smooth then add in turmeric powder, amchur powder, chili powder & coriander cumin powder to pan. Mix & cook for 2mins. 
- Add in cooked chana dal to tomato mixture & mix them well. Add 1/2cup water if needed & cook on low heat for 5mins. 
- Adjust salt & chili powder if needed. Next add the coriander to pan & switch off heat. 
- Serve warm & enjoy.
Note
- If you are using lemon juice then add it at the end along with coriander & mix it nicely. 
- I mashed the dal before adding to pan. So it's your choice if you want to mash it or leave as it is. 

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Dal Tadka | Lemon Flavored Dal Tadka

Dal Tadka is a very well known & widely made side dishe of India. This easy to make dish is very nutritious & filling at the same time. This is a comforting & soothing food for any day. My version of dal tadka is a little different than the restaurant style of this dish. It's little thick in consistency & also has a addition of lemon juice, as it makes it a little tangy & tasty.

Prep Time-5mins 
Cook Time-45mins {Pressure cooing+resting}
Serves-3to4 People 
Pairs well with rice or as a side for naan & roti.
Ingredients
1/2Cup toor dal
1/2Cup masoor dal
1&1/2Cups of water
1Big onion chopped
4Green chili's sliced
Few curry leaves
1Tsp turmeric
2&1/2Tsp lemon juice {Adjust as needed}
Tempering/Tadka/Popu
1Tbs oil 
1Tsp mustard 
1Tsp cumin/jeera 
few red chili's 
1/2Tsp hing 
Directions 
- Wash toordal, masoor dal & add them to a pressure cooker. Along with that add onions, green chili's & few curry leaves. Pressure cook them for 2 to 3 whistles & switch off the heat. Allow the cooker to cool down before transferring them to a deep vessel. 
- Add in turmeric, salt & lemon juice to dal. Mix them well. Adjust the taste of salt & lemon if needed. 
- Mean while  heat pan with oil for popu/tadka. Add in cumin, mustard seeds, red chilli's & last the hing. Once the mustard starts jumping switch off heat & mix it with dal. 
- Serve it with rice, roti & naan. 
Note
- Omit adding lemon juice & add 2tomatoes while pressure cooking the dal.
- Add a 1/2 Cup water to the dal once you have transferred to the vessel & cook it for 5mins on low heat before adding tadka to it.  

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Dal Bhat ~ Nepali Dish

Dal Bhat is a traditional meal for Nepal & also for few other countries. Dal means cooked lentils & bhat means rice here. When they both are combined it's comforting & awesome. I used masoor dal, as it is easy to cook on stove top in very less time. The spices might vary, but the addition of garam masala powder made this dal more flavorful.
To know what my other friends are cooking, check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 44. 

Adapted from here.
Prep Time-1hr 10mins {1hr soak time} | Cook time-20mins | Serves-4people
Ingredients 
1Cup masoor dal {soaked for 1hr}
1Big onion chopped
2Big tomatos chopped 
2Garlic cloves 
1/2Tsp turmeric
1Tsp chili powder
1Tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
2Tbs oil
Cilantro for garnish
Directions
- Soak dal for at least 1hr.
- Heat pan with oil. To that add onions & chopped garlic. Fry till onions are translucent. 
- Mean while drain water from dal & add to pan. 
- Fry them for 2mins in oil & then later add 2cups of water to pan. 
- Close it with a lid & cook for 10mins. 
- Now add tomatoes, chili powder, garam masala & salt to pan. 
- Cook on low heat for another 10mins with closed lid.
- Adjust the taste if needed & garnish dal with coriander leaves. 
- Switch off heat & serve warm with rice & ghee.
Note
-  You can use your choice of dal in cooking this dish. 
- You can add seasoning to the dish for much more flavor. 

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Nimmakaya Pesara Pappu | Tangy Lemon Dal

For this week theme on BM I'm  presenting "Summer Special". Enjoy the dishes & don't miss the update. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 41.

Lemon Dal is a tasty yet cooling dish for summer's or for any hot day for that matter. Moong Dal is believed to cool the body temperatures on hot days & it is a easy to digest lentil, which is tasty yet easy to cook. My mom use to regularly make this dal in summer, which goes along with pickles of the season. You can also make pulusu & chutney with dal & they are deliciously tempting.

Prep Time-10mins | Cook Time-45mins | Serves-3people
Ingredients
1Cup moong dal {Pesara Pappu}
1&1/2Cup water
1Medium onion finely chopped
2Green chili's chopped
1/4Tsp turmeric
Few curry leaves
2Tsp lemon juice

Salt to taste 

2Tbs oil 

1Tsp mustard seeds

1Tsp jeera 

3Red chili's cut in to half 

1/4Tsp hing {Asafetida}

Directions

- Wash moong dal & pressure cook with water for 2whistles. Switch off heat & allow it to cool completely. 

- Mean while heat a pan with oil & to that add mustard, jeera, red chili's & hing.

- Once the mustard starts jumping, add onions, curry leaves & green chili's to the seasoning.

- Fry onions till they are translucent. 

- Add turmeric, salt & cooked dal to pan along with 1cup water. Mix them well. 

- Bring dal to boil & switch off heat. 

- Mix in lemon juice to dal.

- Serve dal with rice & ghee.

Note

- Don't add extra water while cooking if the dal is thick enough. 

- Adjust lemon juice as needed.

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Keerai Kootu

Kootu is a speciality of Tamil Nadu cuisine. This green kootu dish is filled with proteins, vitamins & packed with lots of goodness to it. Kootu dish has variations to it as it can be cooked with different vegetables mixing either with toor dal or moon dal. My mom version is little different & it will be on a little dry side than this dish. She adds black peppers to the spice paste as I did here & no onion or garlic in the dish. 

Cooking Details 
Prep Time-5mins 
Cook Time-45mins 
Serves - 3 to 4 People
Ingredients 
1/2Cup moong dal 
1Cup water
Salt to tate
To grind 
1/4Cup +1Tbs grated coconut
1/2Tsp jeera 
1Tsp black pepper
1/4Tsp turmeric
1Green chilli
3Cups chopped spinach 

Seasoning 

2Tbs oil

1Tbs urad dal 

1Tsp mustard seeds 

2Red chili's cut equally

Few curry leaves  

1/2Tsp hing {asafetida}

Directions

- Wash moong dal with water & pressure cook it with 1cup water for 2whistles. Switch off heat & allow pressure cooker to cool. 

- Grind the ingredients to coarse paste. 

- In a pan mix grind paste, cooked dal & salt. Now cook dal on low heat for 15mins. Stir it once in a while to avoid lumps. 

- Slowly raw smell of spinach vanishes. Adjust salt if needed.

- Heat another small pan with oil. To that add mustards, urad dal & red chili's. Once the mustard starts jumping add curry leaves & hing to pan. Cook for 10sec & switch off heat. 

- Now add seasoning to dal & mix well. Cook dal on low heat for 2mins & switch off heat.

- Serve it warm with rice, ghee & papadums.

Note

- You can pressure cook spinach along with moong dal, but it will loose it's green color changing to darkish green. 

- I used a little more of black pepper while reducing green chili's. Add one more green chili if you like it spicy. 

- Onion can be added to the grinding ingredients if desired. 

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Dalma {Orissa Dish}

Dalma is a classic Orissa dish, which is made of dal & vegetables cooked together along with mild spices. This dish is mildly spiced & tastes perfect along with rice & chapati. While doing a research on this dish I came to know that this dish is offered to "Lord Jagannatha", though it would be a onion less version. 

Prep Time-10mins | Cook Time-30mins | Serves-2people
Adapted from: Oriya Food & Recipe
Ingredients 
1/4Cup + 2Tbs toor dal {kandi pappu}
1Cup water
1Medium onion chopped
3Brinjals chopped in to cubes
1Medium potato chopped in to cubes

1Cup bottle guard chopped in to cubes

1/4Tsp turmeric 

2Tsp panch phoran mix {mustard, jeera, kala jeera, fennel, fenugreek seeds}

2Red chili's cut equally

2Bay leaves

2Tbs grated coconut

1Tbs ginger chopped

Coriander for garnish

1Tbs ghee

Salt to taste

To grind 

1Tsp jeera 

5Red chili's 

Directions

- Wash dal with lots of water. Pressure cook it along with potato & bottle guard for 2 whistles. Switch off heat & allow it to cool.

- Mean while in a pan dry roast cumin & red chili's till cumin turns slight dark. Switch off heat & allow it to cool. Grind it to a powder & keep aside. 

- Heat pan with ghee, to that add red chili's, turmeric & panch phoron mix. Later add ginger & bay leaves. 

- Stir for few seconds & add onions to pan. Add brinjal to pan. 

- Close pan with lid & cook brinjal till they are done. 

- Now transfer dal to pan. Add salt & jeera chili mix to dal & mix well.

- Cook for 2mins & garnish with coconut. Switch off heat.

- Serve along with rice & chapati / roti.

Note

- The recipes I was checking for are asking for Pumpkin & raw banana, which weren't it available for me, so do add them for better taste.
- You wont see coriander in my dish image, as there was none left in my kitchen. Use it while your are making this dish.

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Katte Masoor Dal

Chhattisgarh is one of the north indian states & also a source of steel & electricity to the country. I'm sharing a recipe from this state made of masoor dal & it was simply delicious. I loved pairing it with both rice & roti. 

Prep Time-5mins | Cook Time-30mins | Serves-3People
Recipe Courtesy:Indian Khana
Ingredients
To cook dal 
1/4Cup masoor dal
2/3Cup water
For gravy
1Cup water
1Small onion sliced
1 Tomato chopped 
1/2Tsp ginger garlic paste
1Tsp Chili powder

1Tsp coriander cumin powder

2Tbs curd

1/2Tsp garam masala powder

1/4Tsp turmeric

1Tsp jeera {Cumin}

1Tbs oil

Salt for taste

Few coriander leaves to garnish

Directions

- Wash dal & soak them in water for 10min. 

- Now pressure cook dal with 2/3cup water up to 2whistles. Switch off heat & allow the cooker to cool.

- Mean while heat a pan with oil & to that add cumin. Allow them to splutter & to that add onions & ginger garlic paste. 

- Fry onion to translucent & to that add tomatoes, turmeric, red chili, coriander cumin powders. 

- Cook them with a closed lid till the tomatoes are soft & mushy. 

- Now add the cooked dal along with 1cup water to pan & cook it for 2mins. 

-  Add 2Tbs curd, salt  & garam masala powder to pan. Adjust salt & spiciness if needed.

- Cook on low heat for 5mins & switch off heat. 

- Garnish with coriander & serve it warm.

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Palakura Pesara Pappu | Spinach Moong Dal Fry

Dal is a staple for Indians. We use different lentils & veggies to make delicious dal. The variations of making dal change from place to place. In this recipe I'm sharing a north indian style dal which bonds along with rice & roti/chapati very well. 

I believe in not combing spinach & tomatoes as they form stones in kidneys.Maybe it is just an assumption still why take a chance, right ? 

Ingredients

1Cup moong dal

1&1/2Cups water

2Cups chopped spinach

1Onion chopped

2Garlic pods

1/2Cup water (optional)

1/4Tsp turmeric

1Tsp chili powder

1/2Tsp sugar (optional)

Salt for taste

Seasoning

1Tbs oil

1Tsp mustard 

1Tsp jeera

1Tbs chana dal & urad dal

Directions

- Cooking dal is a easy process if you have a pressure cooker.
- To cook dal take it in a vessel with lots of water and clean it well. 
- Now add moong dal to pressure cooker with 1&1/2 cups of water and cook it for 2 whistles. 
- If you are planning on cooking it on stove top. It might take 3 to 4 cups of water for 1 cup moong dal & need continuos observation too.

- While the dal is being pressure cooked heat a pan with oil add mustard & jeera. 
- Once the mustard starts jumping then add channa dal & urad dal. Fry them for 1min then add garlic & onion to the pan & fry them translucent.
- Now add chopped spinach to pan & fry them.Here you add salt,chillipowder & turmeric to pan.
- Meanwhile the dal is cooked so add it to the pan & cook it at low temp for 10mins. 
- If required add little water at a time to the pan. Cooking this way will make flavors to mingle with each other perfectly. 
- Sprinkle sugar on cooked dal & mix it. 
- Serve dal & rice with a dollop of ghee & it tastes heaven. 

Note : 
- You can add 2 tomatoes to enhance the flavor. 
- While using pressure cooker be carful. Allow the cooker to cool down before opening it.

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