The taste and flavour of this moong dal curry is extraordinary and is a perfect side dish for any rice dish (plain rice, jeera rice, coconut rice etc.) or rotis (chappathi, naan etc.)
Moong dal is one of the most favoured dal or lentils in the Indian cuisine as they are easily digestible. According to Ayurveda, they are said to balance the tridosha in human body and hence encouraged to be included in the daily diet. These dals can be pressure cooked and cooked in a pan after soaking them overnight.
As a variation, you can try this recipe with sprouted moong dal also. For the sprouted dals, you don’t have to pressure cook it as they are quick to cook.
The ingredients for the recipe are…
Ingredients
- ½ cup Moong dal or Green gram
- 1 ½ cups Water, to cook dal
- 2 tsps. Ghee
- ½ tsp. Cumin
- ½ tsp. Mustard seeds
- 1-2 Green chillies, slit length wise
- 1 tsp. Ginger-garlic, crushed
- A sprig Curry leaves
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 Tomato, chopped
- A pinch of Asafoetida
- ¼ tsp. Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp. Chilli powder
- 1 ½ tsp. Coriander powder
- Salt, to taste
- ½ tsp. Garam masala
- ½ tsp. Kasuri Methi/ Dry Fenugreek leaves
- ½ tsp. Amchur powder/ Dry Mango powder
- Coriander leaves, for garnishing
Method
- Wash and cook dal until soft with 1.5 cups water in a pressure cooker or a pot.
- Add ghee to a hot pan, allow mustard and cumin to crackle. Next add chopped onion, ginger-garlic, green chillies & curry leaves.
- Fry until the raw smell goes off.
- Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder to the mix and fry. After the masalas are fried (do not burn the masalas) add chopped tomatoes.
- Allow the tomatoes to cook and mash them.
- To this, add cooked moong dal, garam masala and salt. Adjust salt to your taste.
- After the flavours blend in, add kasuri methi and amchur powder. Allow the flavours to blend in. Turn off the heat.
- Serve tasty moong dal curry after garnishing with chopped coriander leaves.