Healthy & Delicious Masoor Dal

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There is something special about home-made, slow cooked dals and sabjis. They are not only healthy and nutritious, but they offer amazingly delicious comfort food. This north-Indian Masoor dal sabji is one such food that I thoroughly relish. It tastes good with roti/naan/paratha as well, but it is simply divine with hand pounded, steaming brown rice!

Look at this tempting dish and share here how would you prefer to enjoy this!

Nutritious and delicious Masoor Dal

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole uncooked masoor dal
  
• 3 cups water
  
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
  
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  
• 1 inch ginger julienne
  
• 1 and half medium onions, chopped
  
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
  
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
  
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds powder
  
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds powder
  
• 1.5 tsp turmeric powder
  
• 1 tbsp red chili powder, add more if you prefer it spicy
  
• 1 tbsp punjabi garam masala powder or regular garam masala powder
  
• 1 tbsp chaat masala
  
• Salt as per taste
  
• 1 to 2 tbsp crushed kasuri methi (sun-dried fenugreek leaves), add more if you like it.
  
• 2 tbsp oil
  
• Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
  
• 2-3 tbsp cream or thick yogurt for garnishing (optional)

Procedure

Cook the whole Masoor (lentils) in a pressure cooker with approximately 3 cups of water for 1 cup of uncooked whole Masoor.. Ensure that they are properly cooked, but not overcooked.

Heat oil in a pan/Kadhai and when it is heated, add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Then add chopped onions and fry til they are brown in colour. It is important to make them brown to get that delicious flavour. Then add ginger-garlic paste and fry til its raw aroma disappears. Then add chopped tomatoes, finely chopped green chilies and ginger juliennes to this and fry till tomatoes are soft, properly cooked and you can mash them easily. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin seeds powder, coriander seeds powder to this and mix well. Let it cook for 4-5 mins till you get nice aroma of the spices.

Add cooked Masoor (lentils) to this mixture and add some water (approx 1 cup or so) if necessary. You may want to mash some Masoor with a spoon to get thick consistency of the gravy. Let this simmer for some time and keep stirring it in between. Once you see entire dish forming a thick gravy, add salt, garam masala, chaat masala and kasoori methi to this gravy and mix well. Add little water if needed, let it simmer again for 5-7 mins and turn off the heat.

Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and cream/yogurt (optional). You can relish this with roti/naan/paratha or rice as you like!

Ready To Eat - Healthy & Delicious Masoor Dal