Lahsuni Mung Daal

Daal (Lentils) are a staple in Indian Cuisine. Tur Dal (Pigeon Peas) are more commonly used. Today's Dal recipe is with whole Mung Bean flavoured with mint and garlic. All my favourite spices made this daal truly delicious.

Ingredients:
Mung/Whole Green Gram/Mung Bean - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Garlic - 5 big cloves
Green Chillies - 8
Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - few sprigs
Mint/Pudina Leaves - few sprigs
Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind paste or Aamchur - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Oil

Method:
1. Soak whole green gram in water for 6 - 8 hours. Wash soaked gram. Pressure cook with 1 1/2 cups water to one whistle or till gram turns soft.
2. Crush the peeled garlic. Finely chop onions, cilantro and mint leaves. Slit the green chillies lengthwise.
3. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and crushed garlic. Saute till garlic turns slightly brown. Add chopped onions and fry till onions turn golden brown.
4. Add chopped mint, cilantro and slit green chillies. Saute for another 2 minutes. Add cooked green gram, 1 cup water and bring it to a boil. Add more water if required.
5. Add turmeric, jaggery, tamarind and salt. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes or till you get the desired consistency.
6. Serve Pudina Lahsun Mung Dal with steamed rice.

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal) Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family. My Mom used to make this stir fry very often. Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple. I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India. Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.

Surti Val Papdi Bhaji

My Mom used to make Val Papdi Bhaji in a simple way with few ingredients. This is the first time I gave it a try here in my US kitchen. This stir fry does require little more oil, as no water is added for cooking. Dal Rice tastes great with this sauteed Papdi. I tried this Bhaji once with frozen Surti Papdi and I was not happy with the result. I prefer fresh Papdi for this recipe, which I can only find in the local Indian store. I am not sure if Val Papdi is called as Navy Bean or Fava Bean in English.

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