Moong Dal
Moong Dal (yellow dal) is a healthy Indian comfort food prepared from yellow split lentil (green split gram without skin) and many spices. It is rich in protein and a staple food in India and main source of protein for vegetarians. Serve it with rice and roti for healthy wholesome meal. Follow the below given moong dal recipe with step by styep photos to make it at home within 30 minutes.
| Ingredients: |
| 1/2 cup Moong Dal (split green grams without skin) |
| 2 tablespoons Cooking Oil |
| 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds |
| 3-4 Garlic cloves, crushed |
| 2 Green Chillies, finely chopped |
| 1 Dry Red Chilli, broken into two pieces |
| 1/2 teaspoon Ginger, grated |
| 4-5 Curry Leaves |
| 1/2 Tomato, diced |
| 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder |
| 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder |
| 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder, optional |
| 1½ teaspoons Lemon juice |
| 1½ cups Water |
| 1 tablespoon Coriander Leaves (chopped) |
| Salt, to taste |
Directions:
- Wash moong dal in water. Soak it in water for 30 minutes. Soaking the dal is an optional step. If you are in hurry, then skip soaking dal in water and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
- After 30 minutes, drain it.
- Transfer it to a pressure cooker (3-litre capacity). Add 1½ cups water, turmeric powder and salt. Close the lid and pressure cook it on medium flame for 2 whistles.
- Turn off the flame; remove the lid after pressure comes down naturally.
- Heat cooking oil in a small pan for sautéing. Add cumin seeds and when they begin to crackle, add crushed garlic, chopped green chillies, dry red chilli, grated ginger and curry leaves. Sauté them for 30 seconds.
- Add diced tomato and cook for a minute. Add and mix red chilli powder and coriander powder.
- Take it away from flame and pour it over cooked dal. Taste for salt and add more if required.
- Add lemon juice and 1/3 cup water, mix well and boil for 2-3 minutes.
- Turn off the flame and transfer it to serving bowl. Garnish yellow moong ki dal with chopped coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice or plain paratha.
Tips and Variations:
- If you are in hurry, then you can skip step-1 of soaking dal in water; add 2 cups water in step-3 and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
- If you like it to be thin and watery, then add 1 cup additional water before adding the tempering and boil for few minutes.
- You can use less oil (only 1 teaspoon oil) for tempering to reduce its calorie count.
- To cook dal using pan instead of pressure cooker in step-3 and step-4 (in above recipe), follow the given steps. Remaining steps are same as given above.
- Pour 2 cups water in a saucepan or deep kadai. Add (soaked and drained) dal, salt and turmeric powder in it.
- Boil it on low flame until dal is cooked. Stir in between occasionally to prevent sticking. To check whether dal is cooked or not, take few grains of it and try to mash them. If they can be mashed easily, then it is cooked.
Taste: Mild spicy
Serving Ideas: Serve it with rice, curry, roti and papad for healthy wholesome meal.