Dhal (Lentil Curry)

This is a simple Lentil dish,a staple in most Indian households and our favorite comfort food,served with a steaming cup of rice!Its a quick easy recipe with very little prep time and the cooking time is pretty fast thanks to the trusted pressure cooker.

The kids love this and I love adding spinach every once in a while to my lentils,the combination of lentils and spinach is delicious.We like our dhal cooked a little extra and the end result is a thicker, creamier dhal.

Dhal

 Ingredients :

• 1 cup Masoor Dhal ( Red Lentils)
• 2 Medium sized tomatoes,chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic,sliced
• 1-2 green chilly slit
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon sambar powder (optional)
• Salt to taste

Seasoning :

• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• a pinch of asteofida (optional)
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 3 cloves of garlic,crushed
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Oil

Method :

1. Wash dhal in 2-3 changes of water. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a pressure cooker (if you dont have a pressure cooker you can use a deep dish pan).
2. Add sliced garlic to dal along with turmeric powder, green chillies,chopped cilantro,sambar powder and about 3 cups of water.
3. Pressure cook this for 3 whistles.
4. Heat some oil in a small pan,add your mustard seeds,once the seeds start to splutter,add the cumin seeds and the crushed garlic till it turns a light brown.
5. Add your curry leaves
6. Reduce the heat,add your chopped cliantro (I like the taste of seasoned cilantro leaves) Fry for 30 seconds to a quick minute and take off the heat.
7. Add this seasoning to the cooked dhal.
8. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.
9. Serve with steaming hot rice!