It does not cross my mind to try cooking Indian cuisine regardless on how much I adore Indian food. I am in fact intimidated by the number of spices used in Indian cuisine. There is no surprise that a bowl of Indian curry comprises of more than 5 different types of spices.
Ms. M from Germany who loves Indian food convinced me that there are simple Indian dishes that do not required a lot of species and dal is one of it. So, I challenge myself to make my first pot of dal today.
The dal served in Indian restaurants are normally the channa dal. But in my recipe here, I am using the split mung beans from Asian supermarket. Split mung beans is also known as moong dal which is slightly smaller that chana dal, but with the same texture.
Ingredients
200g dal (any type of dal)
2 medium size tomatoes (diced)
2 potatoes (cubed)
1 carrot (sliced - 1cm thick)
3-4 stalks dried chilies
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
3 shallots (diced)
2 pieces curry leaf
1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
125ml of water
cooking oil
salt and sugar to taste
chopped coriander leave (optional)
Directions
1. Wash and soak the dal overnight to soften the dal.
2. Heat up generous amount of cooking oil in a pot.
3. Add in the minced garlic, diced shallots, dried chilies, and curry leaf and stir fry till they turn aroma.
4. Add in the tomatoes cubes, cover the lid and let the tomatoes to soften.
5. Once the tomatoes are soften, add in the rest of the ingredients (turmeric powder, dal, potatoes, carrot and water) and bring to boil.
6. Constantly stir the dal, so they will not stick to the bottom of the pot. Add in more water if required.
7. Once the dal turn soft and smushy, add in salt and sugar according to personal preference.
8. Garnish the dal with some chopped coriander.
This Dal dish is worth a try as it is simple to prepare with basic ingredients from the pantry. You can eat it on its own as soup or you can pair it with rice and poppadom.
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