Mung daal (dry)
4 Servings
Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | cup | Mung dal (without skin) |
| 2½ | cup | Water |
| 1 | teaspoon | Salt |
| 1 | tablespoon | Vegetable oil |
| ¼ | teaspoon | Black mustard seeds |
| 1 | Clove garlic; chopped | |
| ¼ | teaspoon | Chopped fresh ginger |
| ¼ | teaspoon | Garam masala (Indian spice mixture) |
| 1 | small | Tomato; chopped |
Directions
This is in response to requests I've seen here from time to time. The following recipes are from _Flavors of India: Recipes from the Vegetarian Hindu Cuisine_, by Shanta N. Sacharoff, reprinted without permission.
Comments in parentheses are mine, and I've paraphrased some portions. I've tried these and several other recipes from this book & highly recommend it! These dals are great served with rice or one of the Indian breads, and adding a good hot curry and several condiments almost makes a feast! My favorite condiments are mango chutney (which comes preserved in a jar like jam) and cucumber raita (beat 1 c, plain yogurt with a fork and add a diced, peeled cucumber, ¼ t. salt, couple pinches cayenne and maybe some coriander or mustard powder -- should be cooling rather than spicy).
Wonderful drinks can be made with the sweetened mango pulp available canned in most Indian groceries (or obviously with a blender and fresh mangos if available) -- just mix with milk or with tonic water and lime. Canned leechee fruits in sirup make an easy desert.
Mung beans are green when whole, but when split and skinned, the resulting mung dal is yellow (smaller than chana dal). This is a quick and easy dal.
(I've made it with half mung dal and half masoor dal -- the latter is bright orange and gives the dish a very festive look.) Bring 2-½ c. water to a biol in a medium size pot and add the salt to it. After carefully sorting out the dal by hand to remove any foreign objects, wash clean under running water and drain. Add dal to the boiling water. When the water begins its second boil, reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered for 10 min. Place a tightly fitting lid on the pot, reduce heat to low, and cook another 10 min. The dal should have become soft and there should be almost no water left in the pot. If there is some water left, simmer and stir the dal continuously until the water has evaporated.
(The directions say to remove the dal to a bowl, dry the pot, heat oil and spices in the pot, then add the dal back to the pot. I think it is easier to heat the oil and spice in a small pan, then add to the pot, as above.) Heat the vegetable oil separately from the dal and add the mustard seeds, chopped garlic and chopped ginger to the oil. The mustard seeds will begin to pop and spatter when the oil becomes hot. When they have all popped, combine the hot oil and the dal. Stir for a minute, then add the garam marsala and the chopped tomato. Mix well and continue to stir for 5 min.
until the dal is well heated. This dal should be served hot and may be reheated before serving. While most dals are thin and soup-like, this particular preparation comes out somewhat dry and lumpy by comparison.
Serves 4.
JMNI@...
(JILL M. NICOLAUS)
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