My Easy Dal Fry

There are times when my mum and I both are admittedly clueless of the menu for dinner, which is more precisely about the curry to be served with Roti for the night!! And she has a simply theory to apply at that time.. ‘Listen I am not feeling like making anything.. you think of something!!’ And the ball swiftly rolls on my stained-blank face..

On one of such day or evening to be more particular, I tried this recipe, not that a better, more lucrative version doesn’t exist in those North Indian cuisines.. remember we are talking easy-lazy-healthy-hassle free and everything that relates to these concepts.. SO I made this easy Dal fry from whatever was available in my mother’s store and we all were quite happy with the result.

Let me take you to the recipe straight away:

Ingredients:

• Half cup Moong Dal/ yellow lentils
• Half cup Masoor Dal/ red lentils
• Ginger powder 1/2 table spoon
• Garlic powder 1 table spoon
• Garam Masala powder 1/4 table spoon
• Cumin powder 1/2 table spoon
• Whole cumin 1/2 table spoon
• Bay leaf 1
• Turmeric 1/2 table spoon
• Black pepper crushed 1/2 table spoon
• Oil & Little ghee
• Coriander leaves chopped 2 table spoons
• 1 medium size Onion chopped
• Tomato ketchup 2 table spoons
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Wash both the dals/ lentils nicely and then in a pot add the dal, and about 1 and 1/2 cup water (you may need more depending on the quality of the dal) and cook the dal until they are boiled to mushy, it can be little watery (once the water comes to boil, bring the heat to medium/low, then give this entire things about 20 minutes to cook, partially cover the pot during this time.). Then keep it aside.
• In a small bowl add the Ginger-garlic powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, turmeric, black pepper (you may use pinch of kashmiri chili powder if you want), a pinch of salt and add little water to make a paste which should be thick but slightly runny and keep it aside.
• In a hot Kadai or wok or pot, add some oil and ghee (clarified butter), once the oil is hot, add the whole cumin and bay leaf. Once the cumin started cracking, add onion and half of the chopped coriander and stir till the onions are soften.
• Add the masala paste (in case you want to use ginger-garlic paste, in that case after the onion add the paste and cook till the raw smell of the paste is almost gone and then add the rest of the masala mixed in water) and cook for a bit, then cover the kadai keeping the heat absolutely low and wait for a minute or two.
• After this remove the lid, the masala should emit little oil on the surface of the kadai and a smoky flavour will be coming from the masalas. Then it’s time to add the boiled dal, mix it very well. Add salt (sugar or coconut sugar if you want). And cook it for about 5 minutes keeping the heat medium/low.
• It’s done, check the seasoning before turn the heat off, once you are happy with it, turn the heat down and add the rest of the coriander leaves and covering the kadai give a standing time for about a minute.
• You are ready to eat.

It takes very less time to cook this dal fry if the dal is pre-boiled. You can even have it with fresh hot rice or Jeera Rice as well, with some nice salads or pickled onions. I had some left over paneer in the fridge, so I shallow fry them and added them as a garnish.