Dal Soup

Ingredients

For the Dal

  • 1 cup lentil of your choice – split skinless green gram (dhuli moong dal) or split red lentils (masoor dal) or split pigeon peas (arhar dal/toor dal)
  • ¼ – ½ tsp turmeric (haldi) powder
  • 1 tsp unrefined salt
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander leaves, for the garnish

For the Tempering – choose any 3 to 5 of the following

  • 1 tsp mustard (rai) seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
  • 1–3 cloves
  • 1” pc cinnamon
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • ½ tsp red chilli powder/1 whole red chilli
  • ⅛ tsp asafoetida (hing)
  • ¼ cup chopped onions
  • ¼ cup chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tsp chopped garlic
  • 1 tsp grated unpeeled ginger
  • ½ tsp chopped green chillies

Method

Soak the lentil of your choice for 4-6 hours. Drain, rinse and cook the lentils until they are soft. Cool down to room temperature and blend in a blender until smooth in consistency. Heat a pan and temper, as per your choice, with 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1-3 cloves, 1 small cinnamon stick, curry leaves, red chilli and asafoetida.

As per your choice, add chopped onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and green chillies and cook a little. Add the cooked lentils, salt to taste, curry powder and ½ tsp turmeric powder. Bring to a boil. Add lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.  Serve hot by itself or with steamed rice.

Serves 4-6