Indian Dal with Radish & Tomatoes

VeganMofo Day 4: Many Indian savory dishes are either Vegan to begin with or can be easily made Vegan by simply substituting very few ingredients. 'Desserts' is another story, most of them use ghee (clarified butter) and milk, but come to think of it, these can be veganized easily too. I want to make some traditional Indian desserts - vegan style this festival season (which starts this month with Dasara, yay) and hopefully I can post them for veganmofo.

Today's dish is simple, healthy and delicious. Radish is not one of our favorite veggies, but I buy it since it has quite a few health benefits. My husband hates the smell and pungent taste of raw radish. So I pressure cooked it with dal and tomato and once done it turned out mellow with no discernible smell or the taste.

Ingredients:

Moong dal - ½cup
Radish - 1 cup, diced
Tomato - 1 medium, chopped
Green chilies - 2, slit
Lemon/ Lime juice - 2tsp
Turmeric - ¼tsp
Salt - to taste

For Tempering:
Urad dal - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Dry Red Chilies - 2
Garlic cloves - 2, minced
Curry leaves - 6-8

Method:

• Pressure cook dal with radish, tomato, green chili and turmeric until dal is cooked through (I let it go for 5 whistles in my pressure cooker).
• Heat 2tsp oil in a small saucepan, add all the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter and garlic starts to turn golden, add it to the dal mixture.
• Add water to dal if it looks too thick and cook for 5 minutes for all the flavors to come together. Season with salt and squeeze in the elmon/ lime juice.
• Serve with steamed rice or roti.