Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tovve / South Indian Dal

Legume/Lentil preparation is almost a daily routine in any Indian kitchen. Be it in the form of Sambar or legume based curry or this simple dal. For some reason, North Indian style preparation of dal is pretty famous every where. People associate dal with garlic, onion, tomatoes. That is not really the case in reality. Every state of India has its own way of preparing dal. This one is from Karnataka where I come from. This is a very simple dish, but very flavorful.
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Ingredients: 
Toor Dal / Red Lentils - 1 cup
Water - 2 1/2 - 3 cups
Turmeric - two generous pinches
Salt - to taste
Lime juice - from half a lime
Cilantro - 2 TBSP chopped
Veggies of choice - About 1 - 2 cups of chopped vegetables precooked (I have used about 4 cups of spinach here) optional
Coconut - 3 - 4 TBSP grated

For tempering:
Oil - 2 TBSP divided use
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies - 2 broken
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - Grated about 1 generous TBSP
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp as per taste
Black Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Asafoetida/hing - generous pinch
Curry leaves - few

Method:
Wash and rinse the lentils. Add water, turmeric and a drop of oil. Pressure cook till soft but not mushy. When the pressure is released, prepare for the tempering - heat the remaining oil in a small saucepan. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add broken red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida, cumin. When the cumin pops, add grated ginger, black pepper powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder. Add the cooked dal and mix well. Now add the spinach or cooked vegetables, salt and let it simmer. Adjust the water if required. When it comes to a slow boil, check for the salt and adjust. Add coconut, cilantro and mix well. Turn off the heat. After 10 - 15 minutes, add the lime juice and mix well. Serve warm with rice. This can be eaten with chapathi or rotis too.

Notes:
If you use spinach or any other greens like I did, there is no need to precook it. It gets cooked pretty fast unless it is a tough green like kale.

Enjoy.
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