Servings : Serves 2-3
A light and tasty lentil dish, goes well with rice or rotis
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow split lentils, washed and soaked for at least 3 hours
- 2 fresh tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized cubes (optional)
- a few fenugreek leaves (methi) (optional)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3 whole black peppers
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 2 green chili
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- some coriander leaves and stems, chopped
- 4 cups warm water (or as needed)
- 4 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
Instructions
Blend the tomatoes with 1 chilli and some of the chopped coriander stems. Set aside.
Boil the potato cubes until tender. Set aside.
In a pressure cooker, heat the oil, then add the fenugreek/methi leaves followed by the whole spices (cumin, black peppers, cinnamon).
When they begin to splutter, add the onions and fry until golden, then add the garlic, followed by tomato paste, chilli and the cumin powder, coriander powder and turmeric.
Cook together for a minute, then add the blended tomatoes. Let this mixture cook until the water begins to evaporate. Add the lentils and fry together for a few minutes. Add salt, then pour in 4 cups of warm water. Let this come to a boil, then close the pressure cooker and let it cook for about 5-7 minutes.
Turn off, use the safety valve to let out the steam from the cooker (be careful!) then open it and check the lentils. If they are still hard, check that the water is enough in there (if it's reduced too much you can add a bit more) then close the pressure cooker and let them cook for a couple more minutes. If they are nice and soft, add the potatoes and close the pressure cooker one last time and let it cook for 1 whistle.
Let out the steam, open the cooker and taste for salt, adjust accordingly. Sprinkle the chopped coriander and garam masala, do not stir this in. Heat a bit of oil separately (1 tbsp.) and pour it onto the lentils, it will sizzle as it hits the surface and the garam masala will give out an awesome aroma. Now you can mix it all together, and serve!!
it is big help in the kitchen network and to decide what to cook just click what you want and pop it comes with a simple recipe to cook for the family
Its definitely goood. please continue giving more veg recipes.. some of us who have to eat more Vegs (Doctors orders!) Appreciate them big time!.
Hi!
I have loved your recipes and ur blog page and sneek peek almost everyday! One q regarding this recipe, in the end we are to add garam masala,but the ingredients talk about cumin powder… So which one is it? Thank you in advance for taking time to reply…
Hi and thank you! Use the cumin powder in the recipe as the dish is cooking, and add a quarter tsp garam masala at the very end.
salam,is this daal channa?
also what kind of lentils u used ? are there two kinds involved?if yes then which ones?if i dont want to use a pressure cooker what are my other options? thankyou
You can use the yellow channa daal, and they can be cooked in an open pan instead of the pressure cooker until tender.
W/Salaam yes it is.
instead of 4 cups of water at the end i only put 2 – and it was enough
Would it be possible to also
Would it be possible to also add how many people a recipe will yield, to help us newbies 🙂
Yes I am currently including
Yes I am currently including that in my new recipes. This one will easily serve 4 people.
salam fauzia jaan can you add
salam fauzia jaan can you add vegetable stock in it ?
W/Salaam, yes you can.
W/Salaam, yes you can.
What are yellow split lentils
What are yellow split lentils in Urdu? Moong daal, arhar/toor daal, or chana (Bengal gram) daal? :/
Chana daal.
Chana daal.
Okay. If I am using dry
Okay. If I am using dry fenugreek leaves, how much shud I put? A pinch?
Yes a pinch.
Yes a pinch.
And is the cardamom u
And is the cardamom u mentioned the black one or the green one?
Green.
Green.