This is one of those recipes that's great to have on hand when there's little time for planning or preparing but you have a lot of people to feed with a hot and nourishing meal. Simple, colorful, wholesome and warming — split Indian dals can do just about anything with a little spice.
 Marawadi Mixed Dal |
Recipe by Lisa Turner
Cuisine: Indian
Published on April 8, 2008
Simple, colorful, wholesome and warming, this mixed dal curry is easy to make and has a delightful fragrance and a wonderful sweet and spicy flavor
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Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup chana dal
- 1/2 cup toor dal
- 1/2 cup split mung dal
- 5 cups water
- 3 tablespoons ghee, butter or olive oil
- 2-inch piece fresh ginger, cut into slivers
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 large tomatoes, diced
- 2 fresh green chilies, seeded and cut into slivers
- small handful of fresh cilantro leaves
- juice from 2 limes (4 tablespoons)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
Instructions:
Thoroughly rinse the dals under cold running water for several minutes. Put the dals in a large saucepan with the water and bring to a boil, skimming off the foam on the surface. As it comes to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of the ghee, butter or oil along with the ginger, turmeric and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook gently until the dals are soft and broken — about 45 minutes. Heat the remaining ghee, butter or oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Stir in the ground coriander, chili powder, tomatoes and green chilies, and fry gently for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick and pulpy. Ladle a cup or so of the cooked dal into the pan, toss in most of the cilantro leaves (saving a few for garnish), and stir to mix. Pour back into dals, stir in the lime juice and salt, and taste for seasoning. Serve hot scattered with a few of the reserved cilantro leaves.
Makes 6 to 8 servings |
Your beautiful dal's always look so inviting.
ReplyDeleteThat looks tasty and hearty.
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI am drooling over all these amazing recipes I've missed in the past week or so! This dahl looks great. And I love, love both the fritters and croquettes (must get more beans into me!). But of course I will be trying that lemon poppyseed bread first.
My mom used to make spoonbread all the time when we were kids, but I never liked it much; I think yours, however, could convince me to give it another try (how could it be bad, with jalapenos??). I would tend toward the breakfast usage, though!
Excellent Lisa!!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, just wanted to say that we finally got to try out this dhal recipe. It's a keeper - many thanks! We love the fresh flavours in what can too often seem a stodgy meal. (I couldn't find mung or toor dhal so just used urid dhal and red lentils instead - it seemed to work fine.)
ReplyDeleteThis looks and sounds delicious! I absolutely love Dal!! Could you please explain the different Lentils you use by colour/size? I'm not too familiar with the Indian names, but would really love to try this! Thanks xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca;
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I always find it helpful to do a google search to find out about the different dals. A google image search is also helpful.
Chana dal is a small yellow split bean that looks very similar to toor day. Mung beans are small round green beans. You can buy split mung beans or whole mung beans. Personally, I prefer the whole mung beans. If you have an Indian grocery store near by, you will easily be able to obtain these ingredients.
You could substitute lentils, but the dish is really best with Indian dals. I am sure it would be good with urad dal too. I use the split white variety without skins.