Spinach Dal

Ready in 1 1/2 hour

You will need:

• Pressure Cooker
• Wok (kadai)
• a trip to the Indian store

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 6 servings

• Spinach (Washed and chopped) - 2 bunches or 4 cups
• Chana Dal - 1 1/2 cups
• Water - 4 cups
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Red Chili (Whole) - 2
• Red onion (chopped) - 1
• Garlic (minced) - 2 teaspoon (3 cloves)
• Ginger (minced) - 2 teaspoon
• Green chili (Serrano/minced) - 1
• Red chili powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Tomato (diced) - 1 cup (1 whole tomato)
• Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cilantro (washed and chopped) - 1/4 cup

Directions:

1. Soak chana dal in water for 30 mins. Drain the water.
2. In a pressure cooker add 
• Dal
• Water (4 cups)
• Turmeric powder (half)
• Salt
• Pressure cook it for about 30 minutes (about 3 whistles) on medium heat. Let it cool and open only after the pressure subsides.
3. On medium heat, heat oil in a wok. Add
• Asafoetida
• Cumin seeds
• Mustard seeds
• Red chili
• When the cumin and mustard seeds start popping add 
• Onions
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Green Chili
• Fry till onions become light brown
4. To the Wok, add 
• Turmeric (rest of)
• Red chili powder
• Fry for one more minute and add 
• tomatoes 
5. Once the tomatoes get mushy, add 
• spinach 
• a pinch of Salt
• and cook till the spinach starts giving off water and reduces to about half the amount.
6. Add the dal from the pressure cooker to the wok and mix well. Add a little water if required. Stir well and let it boil for a minute or two.
7. Turn the heat off and garnish with 
• Garam Masala
• Cilantro
• Cover the Wok for at least 5 minuted before serving
8. Serve with a side of rice.

Footnote:

Chana Dal might not be easily available to everybody. In that case, yellow split peas work well too. A word of caution though, yellow split peas get mushy (read cooked) a lot faster than Chana Dal and might not need extensive pressure cooking. 

The British-English term for 'Chana Dal' is 'Bengal Gram Dal' also called 'Chholar dal' in Bengali.

Moong Dal

Ready in 1 1/2 hours

You will need:

• a Pressure cooker, but you could do without it. It'll just take longer
• a small frying pan/skillet/egg pan/sauce pan

Ingredients:

Recipe makes 6 servings

• Dried yellow split peas (Moong Dal) - 2 1/2 cups
• Water - 2 1/2 cups
• Salt - 1 1/2 teaspoon
• Ginger root (freshly grated) - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chili pepper (jalapeno) diced - 1 teaspoon
• Tomato (diced) - 1/2 cup
• Lemon Juice - 3 teaspoon
• Ground turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil - 2 teaspoon
• Cumin seed - 1 teaspoon
• Dried red pepper (whole) - 1
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Garlic (freshly chopped) - 2 cloves
• Cilantro (fresh, chopped) - 1/4 cups

Directions:

1. Rinse split peas; soak in water for 30 minutes.
2. Heat split peas and water, with salt until boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender and thickened. Add more water if necessary, to prevent drying out. To the cooked split peas add 
• Ginger
• Jalapeno pepper
• Tomato
• Lemon juice
• Turmeric
3. Heat oil in a small saucepan and add 
• Cumin seeds 
• Red chili pepper
• When pepper is heated, add 
• Asafoetida
• Garlic 
• Stir mixture into split peas and add 
• Cilantro
• Mix well.
4. Serve with rice or roti/chapatti

Footnotes:

The split peas (dal) can be cooked in a pressure cooker for quicker results, instead of boiling it in a pot.