Urad & Channa Dal Pakistani Style

Ingredients:

1 cup urad lentil
1 cup channa lentil
1 bunch coriander
1 bunch dill
1 green chilli
1/2 bunch mint
3 cups of fresh spinach
2-3 cloves of garlic – sliced
1 large tomato
1 stick of cinnamon
salt to taste
1/2 tsb turmeric
1 tsb red chilli powder

1 tsb coriander powder

• for the tempering: ghee, 1 tsb cumin seeds, 2 long dried red chilli, 2 cloves of sliced garlic, 1 pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• garnish: fine salad onions (spring onions), a handful of ready deep fried onions, 1/2 bunch coriander, a few leaves of mint

Takes about 30 minutes to prepare (sometimes longer if the channa daal takes time), and feeds about 2-3 people..

I remember the days when I went to my Dadi’s house for Sunday lunch with homework in tow, how the only motivation for me to get out of my pajama’s was the food at my Dadi’s house. Coming from a typical UP family , there was an array of vegetable ‘bhujias’ (stir-fired spicy veggies) together with very tender meat dishes, rice as well as bread (which was something I never got) and of course the great obligatory Daal. Daddy’s family (and Daddy for that matter) are of a mind set where you could have the most scrumptious dishes on a table and no daal, and they’d ask ‘Where’s the food?!’ – I have so many daal recipes to share but this is a personal favourite. This is a quick recipe that can be prepared after a hard day at office and can be eaten with or without rice

Method:

1. In a saucepan boil the lentils with enough water to cover them and add salt, red chilli, coriander seed powder and cinnamon stick. Boil on medium heat until half cooked. (keep adding water if it dries out
2. When half way cooked add more water and add all chopped spinach, half of the coriander, mint leaves and all the dill leaves together with the chopped tomato. Let it cook for as long as it takes for the lentil to be soft and mushy. You can keep mashing up the lentil if you like it mushy.
3. Once the lentil is ready, take it off the heat and temper. For tempering, heat ghee in a small frying pan, add cumin seeds and let them splutter then add sliced garlic until light brown and then a pinch of hing. Finally add the dried red chilli allow to slightly cook. Quickly pour over the lentil and cover.
4. Serve the lentil with a garnishing of the mint leaves, coriander and spring onions. If you like you can sprinkle a bit of chaat masala and lemon juice. Eat by itself or with rice!

Can also be made with red lentils and channa.