Gujarati Dal for ICC January

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose Gujarati Dal from Sukham Ayu cookbook. I own a copy of the book, but never made this dish, so thank you valli for picking this nutritious and delicious dish for ICC. This post also is the last in our 7 day mini marathon. As I said earlier the marathon has been great experience and an opportunity to get to know so many talented bloggers that I didn’t know before. I’ve bookmarked quite a few recipes and I hope to try them pretty soon. Coming to the Gujarati dal recipe.

I substituted some of the ingredients due to lack of availability. I cook with yam very frequently, but didn’t have any on hand when making the dish; I’m going to make this dish strictly per the recipe again when I have all the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ½ cup
Tamarind: 2tbsp
Cluster beans (Goru chikkudu kaya) – ¼ cup, thawed if frozen
Green chilies – 2, slit
Ginger – 1” piece, finely chopped
Peanuts – 1tbsp (I used unsalted roasted peanuts)
Ground Coriander – 2tsp
Ground Cumin – 1tsp
Jaggery – 1tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp
Garam masala – ½ tsp
Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Mustard seeds (Aavalu)– 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds (Menthulu) – 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chili – 2
Curry leaves – 5-6
Asafoetida – pinch

Method:

• Pressure cook toor dal with 2 cups until very soft. When cool enough to handle, mash dal smooth.
• Add all ingredients except for garam masala, coriander leaves and tempering ingredients to the smooth dal along with 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer on medium-low flame and cook for 15-20 minutes until all the flavors are mingle.
• In a small sauce pan, heat 2tsp ghee for the tempering; add mustard seeds and once they start sputtering, lower the heat and add fenugreek seeds. Next add the dry red chili, hing and curry leaves.
• Once everything starts to sputter and smell aromatic, add it quickly to the dal.
• Add garam masala, salt and coriander leaves to the dal; bring to a boil and simmer for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat.

Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.


Don't forget to check out what the other Marathoners are cooking up in their kitchens.

Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Sowmya, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Kamalika, Mina, Meena, Padma, PJ, Priya Mahadevan, PriyaSuresh, PriyaVaasu, Rujuta, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Srivalli, Suma,Usha,Veena.