Lauki Chana Dal

Ingredients:
1.Boiling dal:
1 cup split bengal gram (chana dal)
1 cup bottle gourd (lauki) peeled cut into 1 inch cube size pieces
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 medium size diced tomato

2.Seasoning:
2 tablespoons oil or butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
3-4 broken whole red chillies
5-10 curry leaves
1 medium size onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 inch ginger, chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation:
Boil chana dal by adding bottle gourd (lauki) pieces, turmeric powder, salt, and tomato. Pressure cooker can be used to cook dal. Mash dal slightly on an open medium flame so that lauki is mixed well.
Heat oil in a pan, and add whole red chillies. Saute till chillies are dark brown, add cumin seeds, and sauté for few seconds.
Add onions, garlic and ginger. Saute till onions are golden brown.
Add tomatoes and curry leaves. Stir-fry till tomatoes are softened.
Add garam masala powder, coriander powder, nutmeg powder, and red chilli powder and sauté for a few seconds. Add cooked dal with lauki and bring it to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Lentils

Sabut Masoor Dal

Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2-3 whole red chillies
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small size onion, finely chopped
2-3 leaks spring onions, chopped
1 inch piece ginger, chopped or sliced
1 tablespoon tomato puree or 2 fresh diced tomatoes
4-5 curry leaves
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon jira (cumin) powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
A few coriander leaves, chopped (for garnishing)



Preparation:
Wash lentils thoroughly in water.
Cook lentils by adding four cups of water, salt, black pepper powder, garlic powder, turmeric and powder in a pressure cooker. 3-4 whistles are good for lentils to cook nicely. Open the pressure cooker when cool and keep the lentils aside for seasoning. You can simmer the lentils on low heat so that they blend well.
(You can cook lentils in an open pan but will take long time to cook)



Seasoning of Dal:
Heat oil in a pan, add whole red chillies, and mustard seeds. Saute them till chillies are dark brown, and mustard seeds starts crackling.
Add cumin seeds, and sauté for few seconds.
Add onions, onion leaks, and ginger. Saute till onions are golden brown.
Add tomatoes and curry leaves. Stir-fry till tomatoes are softened (can be substituted with puree).
Add garam masala powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, and red chilli powder and sauté for half a minute. Add cooked lentils with celery and bring it to a boil. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes on a medium heat.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Note: sometimes lentils absorb water and more water may be required into the lentils.

Sabut Masoor Dal (Whole Lentils)

Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
2 tablespoons oil or butter
2-3 whole red chillies
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small size onion, finely chopped
2-3 leaks spring onions, chopped
1 inch piece ginger, chopped or sliced
1 medium size tomato, finely chopped or 1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon jira (cumin) powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
A few coriander leaves, chopped (for garnishing)



Preparation:
Wash lentils thoroughly in water.
Cook lentils by adding four cups of water, salt, black pepper powder, and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. 3-4 whistles are good for lentils to cook nicely. Open the pressure cooker when cool and keep the lentils aside for seasoning. You can simmer the lentils on low heat so that they blend well.
(You can cook lentils in an open pan but will take long time to cook)



Seasoning of Dal:
Heat oil in a pan, add whole red chillies. Saute them till they are dark brown to red.
Add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to crackle, add onions, onion leaks, and ginger. Saute till onions are golden brown.
Add tomatoes and stir-fry till oil separates.
Add garam masala powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, and red chilli powder and sauté for half a minute. Add cooked lentils and bring it to a boil. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes on a medium heat.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or roti.
It can be used as a good soup during the winter season.

Note: sometimes lentils absorb water and more water may be required into the lentils.

Moong Dal

Ingredients:

1 cup dhuli moong dal (split green gram)

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 tomatoes chopped finely
1 tablespoon butter or oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
3 red whole chillies
1 onion chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped (optional)
1 inch ginger chopped
5-10 curry leaves
Pinch asafoetida (hing)
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon coriander leaves chopped to garnish

Preparation:

Wash dal and add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, coriander powder, and tomatoes in a pressure cooker or in an open pan. Pressure cook with two whistles or in an open pan until smooth. Season dal as recipe below.

For Seasoning:

Heat butter or oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds (let it crackle), whole red chillies (gives flavor), cumin seeds, and asafoetida.

Add chopped onions, garlic, ginger and curry leaves until brown.

Add cooked dal and boil for 5 minutes.

Adjust salt according to taste.

Garnish it with fresh corinder leaves.

Serve it hot.

Punjabi Kadhi

Ingredients:

1 cup besan

2 cups yogurt
3 tablespoons oil
1 onion chopped or sliced
1/3 teaspoon mustard seeds
5-8 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon methi (fenugreek) seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried kasuri methi
4 whole red chillies
1/2 teaspoon tamarind paste (depends how much sour you like, if yogurt is sour then very little tamarind)
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 inch sliced ginger
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
3 sliced green chillies
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Besan Mixture: Mix besan, yogurt with double the amount of water with 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, some salt and chilli powder. Use a hand blender to remove all the lumps. Keep aside while the seasoning is ready.

For Seasoning
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, whole chillies, cumin seeds, methi seeds and when they start to pop add chopped onions. Sauté until golden brown.

Add ginger paste, garlic paste, sliced ginger, curry leaves, sliced chillies, turmeric, garam masala, tamarind paste, cumin powder, salt and all other masalas.

Add little water till all other ingredients are well mixed.

Add Besan mixture and let it simmer for a while until curry thickens up---.

(Be careful about the consistency---. Sometime you need more Besan to get the right consistency, depends upon the quality of Besan - you have to standardize the kind of Besan you use--).While Kadhi is simmering you can add pakoras/or potatoes into it.

Keep the flame low otherwise will stick to bottom and will ruin the dish.

When thickens and ready, garnish with coriander leaves.

** adjust the ingredients according to your taste.

Maah Ki Dal (Dal Makhni)

Dal Makhni

Ingredients:

1 cup whole urad dal (urad sabut)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

1-2 inch ginger, finely chopped

1-2 green chilies, finely chopped

2 tablespoon heavy cream
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
4 red whole chillies
1 teaspoon chaat masala
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Pressure-cook urad dal with 5 cups of water, salt, and turmeric powder. Keep the flame low so that it cooks slowly without any whistles. 25-30 minutes will be good to cook dal on a medium-low flame.

Note: If needed more water can be added as urad daal absorbs a lot of water depending upon the quality.Open pressure cooker till all the pressure is released.

Cook urad dal with cream and butter till it becomes smooth.

Now in kadhai heat oil or butter, add red whole chillies. Fry them to dark brown.

Add cumin seeds, chopped onions and ginger. Fry till golden brown.

Add green chilies and tomatoes till they soften.
Now add garam masala, chili powder, dhania powder, cumin powder, chaat masala and salt to taste.
Fry again for a moment.

Add dal and stir on medium flame. As soon as it starts boiling remove from the gas.

Garnish dal makhni with coriander leaves and some butter.

Serve dal makhni hot. Goes well with parantha, naan or rice.