Ammi makes yummy dal.

My mom, Ammi, makes a simple dal that is my absolute favorite!  I could eat it everyday, it's my comfort food, and aside from being healthy, it's easy to make, and easy on the budget.

Ammi's Masoor ki Dal (Split Orange Lentils) Recepie:


Daal Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal
5 cups water
1/4 medium onion chopped
1 medium tomato chopped

Dal Spices:
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground corriander
2 green chillies
a handful of cilantro

Bhagar Ingredients:
some olive oil
ghee (clarified butter)
3 or 4 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/4 whole mustard seeds

Preparation:
Soak the daal in water for an hour. Pour 5 cups water into a deep dish pan and turn burner to high. Add washed lentils to pan. As the water and daal begins to heat, a white foam will rise to the top. Remove the foam with a large flat spoon, and reduce heat to medium-low. Add daal spices, chopped tomato and chopped onion. Increase the heat to a medium high and bring the daal to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan with a lid while leaving a slight opening. Let the daal simmer for about 20 minutes on medium-low heat. While the daal is cooking, chop the cilantro and green chillies. Add the green chillies and cilantro once the daal is cooked. Reduce heat to low.

But wait, you're not done yet.

Adding the Bhagar (I don't know what this word means):
On a seperate burner, place oil and ghee into a frying pan. Turn the heat on high and when oil and ghee are hot, add the dried red chillies, and cool till the red chillies turn black. Reduce the heat to a medium-low, and remove the frying pan from the burner. Add the whole cumin seeds and whole mustard seeds to the pan, and cook on heat till they turn brown. Then, pour the bhagar mixture into the pan with the cooked daal. Continue to cook the daal on low heat for a few minutes to let the bhagar flavor work into the daal.

Serve daal with roti (frozen naan or roti at the local Indian store or trader joes) for first course (as North Indians growing up in Shoreline prefer), and then again with white rice for seconds. And try with plain yogurt and a mango achaar (pickeled relish on the side).