Toor Dal (Pigeon Peas)

My mom is best cook in this world. I don't think any one can cook dal better than my mom, and the best part about her cooking is her simplicity and that's what make any dal very very special..

Toor dal is most commonly cooked dal in Indian Houses. Toor dal or any dal in Indian cooking is like roz (daily) ka khana.

The best secret of making any dal is make it very simple, keep the natural flavours intact, don't over cook, add basic and add minimum ingredients..

The toor dal recipe which I am showing is very simple with minimum ingredients.

Required

1 cup Toor dal

2 medium tomatoes

1 small piece of ginger

2 green chilies

8-10 curry leaves

5-6 kokum (Garcinia indica)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garcinia_indica

Handful coriander leaves

Dry ingredients

2tsp red chilly powder

1tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

For tempering

1Tsp oil

1tsp cumin seeds

1tsp mustard seeds

1tsp fenugreek seeds

¼tsp Asafoetida

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida

Method

Step 1 : Wash and soak dal

Take one cup toor dal, wash and soak for 30-35 minutes.

Step 2 Pressure cooking

Take toor dal in pressure cooker, add one glass of water, green chilies, tomatoes, ginger piece, curry leaves, salt, turmeric, red chilly, one tbsp oil and salt to taste, cover the pressure cooker and allow to pressure cook up to 3-4 whistles, then slow the flame and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Remove the cover, mash well with help of masher, check the dal consistency, add water accordingly. 

After adding water, add washed kokum flower, Curry leaves, coriander leaves bring dal to boil, after one boil switch off the gas stove.

Step3: Tempering

Heat oil in a small frying pan over low heat. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds & Fenugreek seeds allow them to pop. Stir into the dal. Serve dal with steamed rice..