Daal Masala

Surprisingly, I never tasted or had Dal Masala in India; I had it last Sunday in London and I loved it because it was very different from all the dals that I had till date. Dals cooked in most of the houses is of liquid consistency but Dal Masala is a thick dal with different flavours.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup yellow moong dal (split yellow gram)
• 1/3 cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
• 1/3 cup urad dal (split black lentils)
• 1/3 cup toovar (arhar) dal
• 3 onions, grated
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsp ghee
• salt to taste
• chopped coriander (dhania)
• 5 cloves of garlic (lehsun)
• 2 tsp coriander (dhania) seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander (dhania)
• 8 whole dry kashmiri red chillies
• 25 mm. piece ginger (adrak)
• 3 sticks cinnamon (dalchini)
• 3 black peppercorns
• 3 cloves (laung / lavang)

Method

1.   Wash all the dals together and soak for an hour

2.   Then boil dal in a deep pan with 4 cups of water till is done.

3.   Take garlic,coriander seeds, cumin, turmeric, dry red chilli, ginger, cinnamon, peppercorns and laung and make a fine paste in the blender.

4.   Heat the ghee and fry the onions till it becomes light pink in colour.

5.   Add the paste(made in step 3) and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

6.   Slowly add the tomatoes and fry again till it leaves oil.

7.   Then Add the cooked dals and salt.

8.   Cook it covered till it boils.

9.    Garnish with coriander.

Serve hot with Rice or Bread.