Sunday 26 September 2010

Spring Onion Moong Dal

I tried my best to NOT have Indian food whole of last week and succeeded till Friday. And then we went for a Malaysian food festival, ended up having beef rendang with rice and wasn't too happy at all. I can go without having rice for as long as a month or maybe even more without missing it, but the moment I get a taste of it, I crave for it..quite a lot. Which is what happened on Saturday. So I decided to make some steamed rice, dal and tindora fry (I realized the frozen ones are so much easier since I don't have to chop them and just do a stir fry with some sambar powder, its just brilliant) and washed it all down with a mug of beer. I can have rice, dal, pickle and pappad any given time and day...seriously!!! And then today I wanted Hyderabadi biryani, nothing less, but ended up having Sushi..yes Sushi..a far cry from the incredibly awesome Dum biryani, but lets not go there, it makes me wanna cry. So to vent my frustration for not having biryani, I had left over rice and dal for dinner AGAIN!!

I'm not that great at making dal, but for the first time, this dal prep. came out extremely good. Monsoon Spice is a blog I stumbled upon recently and must say I love what I see. This Moong and spring onion dal recipe is more or less adapted from her space. Thank you Sia for the awesome recipe.

Moong dal- 1 cup
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt
Water- enough to cook the dal

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Fenugreek powder- 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida- a pinch
Dry red chillies- 2, halved
Garlic cloves- 3, lightly chopped
Green chillies- 2, chopped
Ginger- 1 inch piece, peeled and roughly chopped
Spring onions- 2 large ones, sliced with the greens and whites separated
Tomatoes- 2 small, roughly chopped
Garam masala- 1 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp (optional)
Coriander leaves- to garnish
Salt- to taste
Oil- 1 tbsp
Mix together the dal, turmeric powder salt and water in a pressure cooker and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or for about 3 to 4 whistles on medium to high heat. You can do the same on open fire as well..might just take ages.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and splutter the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek powder, asafoetida and the red chillies..say about a minute or two, stirring continuously
Add the Garlic and green chillies to the oil and sauté for a minute.
In goes the ginger and the white part of the spring onions. Sauté till the onions turn translucent.
Add the tomato garam masala and chilli powder and combine well. Cook till the oil separates. Add salt at  this stage, if required.
Pour the cooked dal into this mix and stir well to combine the masala with the dal.
Add a cup or so of water, if you want it diluted a bit. I did.
Add half of the greens and stir well. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Just before you serve, garnish with coriander leaves and remaining spring greens.
Serve hot with rice, pickle and pappad :)
(how incredibly cute is this serving bowl BTW???)

Notes: The original recipe had a few more ingredients which I didn't have at hand, do add them if you have it, but without that it still was super duper awesome.
I added that extra chilli powder because the green chillies i had didn't give out enough heat.

41 comments:

Unknown said...

LOved the flavoured dal and the snaps too...

Suji said...

Nisha...am like you, i can stay without rice forever..but the minute i taste it the control is gone totally...

Dal looks delish and a new kind too..

B/w the serving bowl looks super cute...i have a similar one diff color though...

aipi said...

I just love spring onions and keep on putting them in everything..this look awesome ..book marked!

US Masala

Nithu said...

Adding spring onion is a nice idea. Looks inviting.

Unknown said...

That will make a delicious maincourse with some rice and papad; looks appetizing!!loved the dish which you served it as well..

Tanvi said...

Never ever tried onions with green moong dal but looking at those pics it looks a delish idea.

GB said...

The dal looks awesome, I like the mixture of spices, very unusual. I have to try this at home....I try to make Indian food for dinner everyday, because I want the younger one to pick up taste for it now---otherwise he'll be like other american kids--pizza for lunch and dinner. Yuck. So dal is a must almost every other night....I'll def be trying this one.

The serving bowl has me kicking myself mentally, for not having picked one up this weekend--we'd gone to a craft fair and it was sitting there calling my name. I don't know what possessed me to walk away--if I'd seen your post, I wouldn't have.......

Satrupa said...

Your clicks are wonderful as always ....n b4 I 4get, the daal recipe is also awesome :D

Cheers n Happy Cooking,
Satrupa

http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

Monet said...

You did such a lovely job! For the first time...I'm very impressed. This looks so light and refreshing. I want a bowl right now! Thank you for sharing with me.

Torviewtoronto said...

you are so funny :) this dal dish looks delicious and the bowl is beautiful

Satya said...

i always prefer to make dal as healthy ,quick n filling too...never tried this combination ..must give it a try soon ...love those beautiful clicks

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Nitha said...

I cant leave my eyes to your write up or the recipe.. They are stuck on the beauty of the bowl :P

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

I have a love hate reation with rice...sometimes I absolutely crave for it and some days go without a grain of this. the dal looks real good and I agree about monsoon spice...she whips up amazing dishes.

Unknown said...

Hi Nisha,

I finally know your name cos of FB!Amazing healthy dal..lovely presentation dear!

Dr.Sameena@

www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Spring onions and moong dhal that sounds a nice comnbination...lovely clicks

Unknown said...

The serving bowl looks super cute, I love it :)

Spring onion in dal is something new to me, sounds good...

Cheers
Maria

Sanjeeta kk said...

Lovely clicks, like the pot. Spring onion to the dal will be an interesting add.

Priya Suresh said...

Cute looking pot, never thought of adding spring onions in dal, sounds yummy and looks very comforting..

Jaisy James said...

wow looks lovely

Reshmi Ahmed said...

ur writing abt the rice and dal, pickle and pappad makes me fall all over for the rice again.we have very less rice too....but sometimes a simple food has no comparison to a modern time baked ones.what do u say...
as always, ur photography and the serving bowl looks awesome :)

Vrinda said...

Thats a lovely combo n beautiful pics...nice one

Foodie Ann said...

beautiful pic....:)

Sarah Naveen said...

beautiful clicks..!!looks so delicious..

Akila said...

lovely dish.... want to have it now itself...

http://akilaskitchen.blogspot.com

Prerna@IndianSimmer said...

Moong dal is my husband's favorite and I'm so over making the same boring daal again n again./ Thanx for sharing this new recipe! will give it a try.

Pushpa said...

Beautiful pot,picture and dish...I can have it as a soup.

Pushpa @ simplehomefood.com

Suja Manoj said...

Dal looks awesome,spring onions in dal sounds great..cute pot:)

Unknown said...

Lovely pot!! I am not a big fan of dal prepns but this looks fantastic...The recipe sounds really tasty, would love to give a try sometime..Bookmarked!!

Namitha said...

It's hard for me to survive even a day without rice :-)delicious dal in a super cute bowl..

Unknown said...

Fenugreek pwd is an interesting addition, awesome pictures as always and sambar pickle and papad, rock!

Anh said...

You have a wonderful blog here!

(And I'm with you about rice. Can't live without it! )

Sushma Mallya said...

Spring onion gives such a nice flavour and using it in dal sounds really nice...beautiful clicks too nisha...

Sweet Artichoke said...

This serving bowl is soooooo cute! And its content is mouthwatering. it is nearly lunch time here and I am so hungry! Me too, I could have dal and rice any time!! yum, especially mung dal...

Lena Jayadev said...

Nisha.. that serving dish is super cute... curry looks delicious..nice photo.. :)

Sia said...

glad u enjoyed it :)

Sunitha said...

Looks great..the dish is very cute too.

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Moong dal looks awesome. No need for me to add any superlatives already stated by my fellow blogger friends. Great clicks.

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Fathima said...

love the daal and the presentation... the addition of those red chillies makes it look awesome...

Padhu Sankar said...

Dish looks comforting and the bowl looks fantastic!!

Anonymous said...

Just stumbled upon your blog today. I love food blogs but have been inundated with work for a while, so haven't done much reading lately... I think I read most of your posts in one go :) Interesting posts... Keep going. I will defintely be back again. Have to try out some of the recipes soon...

Regs
Sherin

Unknown said...

Hey Nisha..I tried this dal today. It tasted real awesome and we both loved it :) Thanks for sharing this great recipe..

Maya