Sunday, November 8, 2009

Methi Dal - Fenugreek and split green peas dal

Long time back, I used to be a part of Indian food discussion forum, then called forumhub. One of the active members there had a recipe called 'Methiwale kabuli chole - Rajasthani style' or something like that. I had tried that recipe and really liked the way it used methi or fenugreek leaves. I have tried it with various beans and greens but nothing beats the use of methi in it. When I was getting ready to cook lunch, I found that I had a bunch of methi leaves and suddenly I wanted to make it. But, I didn't have any soaked chana and so I tried it with split green peas. Result was a wonderful side dish which went well with roti and rice. So, here it goes.

Ingredients:
  1. 1 1/2 cups split green peas soaked in hot water for about 30 minutes and cooked. You can either cook on the stove top or cook in microwave. Don't use the pressure cooker. It will get mushy.
  2. 1 bunch of methi leaves cleaned and chopped fine.
  3. 1/4 cup of chopped cilanthro.
  4. Tomato - 2 big chopped.
  5. Green chillies - 7 - 8 or to taste chopped fine.
  6. 1/2 an inch piece of ginger - peeled and grated.
  7. 1/2 an inch of cinnamon stick.
  8. 1/2 tsp of methi seeds
  9. 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds.
  10. curry leaves - a few
  11. Hing - a generous pinch
  12. Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp. If using regular tamarind, use 1/2 lime size and extract juice from it.
  13. Oil - 3-4 tbsp.
  14. Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (optional if you want it spicier)
  15. Salt - to taste.
  16. Turmeric - a pinch.
Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. After they splutter, add green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, hing, methi seeds and cinnamon stick. When the methi seeds are golden brown, add the fenugreek leaves. Add turmeric and some salt and saute it till the leaves wilt about 3 to 4 minutes. Now add chopped tomatoes and cook till they are soft. Add the cooked split peas, tamarind paste/extract and mix well. Add water if necessary and adjust the salt. Garnish with chopped cilanthro. When they start simmering for a couple of minutes, turn off the heat. Serve with Roti, paratha/chapathi or rice.

My tips:
You can make this with any combination of beans and greens. My favorite ones are dill with moong, whole green peas with spinach and methi with kabuli chana.When not using methi, you can use cumin seeds in the place of methi seeds or use both cumin and methi seeds.

I am sending this to susan's "My Legume Love affair". hosted by Sra of "When my soup came alive".

Happy Cooking.
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7 comments:

  1. Nice way of preparing methi...Have always cooked methi with aloo ..never tried this way

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  2. nice sidedish recipe with methi...looks yumm..

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  3. This is quite an unusual combination, thanks for the entry! Do you know any common Indian name for split green peas?

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  4. Thanks for the comments. Sra, I picked the split peas from Indian store and they say split peas. Don't know if anyone calls it by Mutter dal or something like that.

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  5. Soma, Sowmya, thanks for the comments.

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