I had my nephew over for dinner last night and I didn’t want to go out in the rain, so I decided to make a simple nutritious daal, Daals are vegetarian and can be made into liquid soups that we serve with rice or dry versions with masalas. There are many types of Lentils you can buy, but the four I use the most are-
- split moong that is yellow.
- split Masoor that is red
- Split Chana that is a bigger yellow
- Toor which is a split pigeon peas it’s a little smaller than the Chana.
I decided to make the yellow moong as it is the lightest and easiest to digest and least gassy on my stomach, also because I was making it dry, I did not need to make rice. I cook it with a variety of masalas and you can make it as spicy as you want to.
100 gram of this daal dry has 1.2 grams of fat of which only 0.3 grams is saturated. The best figures for health are that it has 12 grams of dietary fiber, 28 milligrams of sodium and 25 grams of protein. It has a lot of B vitamins.
I made it with onions and tomatoes and and olive oil to add some antioxidants. I usually add zucchini, but I had none available.
Recipe
- 1 cup moong yellow daal washed well.
- 3 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 large green chillie
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
Boil the daal in 1 cup water with turmeric. The daal should be soft but not mushy. It should hold its shape. You may need to add more water as it does stick to the pan. Leave aside.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet add the cumin and mustard seeds let them pop and then add the onion, salt and chili flakes. Sauté the above till the onion is translucent and the spices have some aroma, then add the tomato and green chili. Cook for a few minutes till the tomato is softened, you may need to add water to help it mix.
Once the onion mixture is ready add the cooked daal. Mix it well so it absorbs the flavors, add the chopped cilantro and lemon juice. Cover and let it steam for 5-10 minutes.
Serve it with any type of bread you want.
I roasted green beans and fried some chicken kebabs. The lentils were the best for the rainy gray day.
