Masur dal can be cooked in many ways. This is a special recipe for Masur Dal or Split Red Lentil and was given to me by my mother. She had learnt it from her mother. Dals are made in most Indian homes but each home has their own way of seasoning and Tempering.
Generally there are 3 steps in cooking Dal :
- Wash and cook the dal in a pressure cooker or a pan till the grains a soft.
- Add the seasoning, like salt, sugar, chillies or any other spices to this cooked dal
- Temper the dal, by adding some fried spices to the Dal. Tempering is called Tarka in Hindi and Phoron in Bengali.
How to make this Dal
First we cook the Masur Dal with some water and onions, garlic and the cinnamon, cloves and, in the pressure cooker. If you do not have a pressure cooker then cook it in a saucepan. If you use a saucepan then do check often that the water does not dry out. You could add some more water if needed. The consistency of the end product will be like a thick soup.
Masur Dal ( Red Lentil).
This is what the Dal looks like before it is cooked. This has to be washed and then cooked with some water and spices.
Chopped garlic, and ginger and sliced onions and cinnamon broken into pieces, and cloves are added to the washed and cleaned Masur dal and then cooked with enough water in a pressure cooker or in a saucepan
After the Masur dal is cooked in the pressure cooker it will look like this.
Now add Sugar, Turmeric, salt and Slit green chilies (optional) to the cooked dal and let it simmer for a few minutes. Taste to see that the seasoning is right.
This is now ready for tempering.
Tempering is frying some spices in oil or ghee and then adding it to the boiled Dal. It makes a huge difference in the flavouring and taste of the Dal.
These are the spices that we use for tempering this Dal. whole Jeera seeds, some cinnamon pieces, some cardamom and dry red chilli. Always tear or slit the whole red chilli before adding it to hot oil or it may burst and splatter all over. Same with adding cardamoms, open them up a little before adding them to hot oil.
Tempering
There are 2 ways to temper,
- Heat the oil or ghee, add the spices, fry a little and then add the boiled and Dal to it . OR
- Heat the oil, fry the spices and pour the hot oil and spices onto the Boiled Dal.
I usually temper the second way, by pouring the oil and spices onto the dal.
After Tempering the dal it has to be simmered for a few minutes so that the flavours get incorporated well .
The Masur Dal is now ready to be served. You can garnish with chopped Cilantro ( Dhania Patta).
Serve hot with Roti or Rice.
The Recipe
Ingredients
- Masur Dal (red lentil) 1/2 cup
- Onion (Piyaj ) peeled and sliced. 1/2 cup
- Garlic ( Lasun). peeled and chopped 1 teaspoon
- Ginger ( adrak)peeled and chopped 1teaspoon
- Cinnamon ( Dalchini) 2inch broken into pieces
- Cloves ( Laung) 6
- Sugar ( Chini ) 1/2 teaspoon
- Salt ( Namak)1/2 tsp
- Turmeric powder ( Haldi ) 1/4 tsp
- Green chilies ( hari mirch )slit 2 or 3
- Water ( Paani ) 2cups
Spices for tempering ( Tardka )
- Ghee 1 tablespoon
- Cinnamon ( Dalchini ) 1 inch piece broken into smaller pieces
- Cardamom.( Elaichi ) 6
- Dry red chilli ( Shukha mirch ). 1
- Cumin seeds ( Jeera) 1/4 teaspoon
Method
- Wash the Masur Dal ( Red Lentil ) well, and put it into Pressure cooker, add the sliced onions, the chopped ginger and garlic, and the cinnamon pieces, and cloves. Add the 2 cups of water and close the lid. Place the cooker on the stove. Once it whistles, start counting till it whistles 4 times more, then switch off the stove.
- Open the pressure cooker lid after the cooker has cooled, then add salt, sugar, turmeric, and slit green chilies to the cooked dal and place the cooker on the stove again, without the lid. Let the dal simmer for 5 minutes, stir a few times.
- Now it is ready for Tempering ( Tarka, or Phoron ):
- Heat the ghee in a small saucepan or frying pan, add the Cinnamon pieces, Red chilli and cardamoms and the jeera seeds. Let the spices brown a little, then pour in onto the simmering dal in the cooker and let it simmer for another 5 minutes, before taking it off the heat.
- OR
- The other way is to heat a wok or a big saucepan and add Ghee, and Cinnamon pieces, and cardamom and the Jeera seeds, and Red chilli. Once the spices brown a little, pour the dal from the cooker to the Wok, then let it simmer for 5 minutes more before taking it off the heat.
Garnish with chopped Coriander leaves ( Dhania Patta) before serving. if You add a spoonful of Ghee when you eat the dal it will definitely taste better.