Growing up dal-rice was my favourite comfort food and if the dal was prepared by my dad,it was equivalent to a feast.Because you know,the dal prepared by my dad is very famous in my family.Kids who refuse to eat food,relish my dad’s preparation.Unfortunately,the dal I prepare following the exact method used by my dad is never upto my liking,so I have ditched the effort of even trying to come close to the recipe.So whenever I go to Bombay,I relish my dads cooking.Inorder to get my weekly dose of comfort food I came up with this recipe which is just right and it tastes awesome with fried fish or even with simple mango pickle.I’ll post my dad’s recipe some other time.For now this is the dal I prepare atleast once a week to tide me over till the next time I visit my parents.

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Ingredients: 

1 and half cup mung dal
salt to taste
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
3 small ripe tomatoes
2 green chillies
3 to 4 kadipatta
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp hing(asafoetida)
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

Wash and soak mung dal and keep for about 2 hours.

After 2 hours or so,boil the dal with salt and keep aside

Heat oil in a medium flame in a vessel.Add mustard seeds.

When they splatter, add cumin seeds and fennel seeds.

Then add hing,turmeric and kadipatta.

Then add garlic,ginger and green chillies.Stir well for about 15 seconds.

Then add tomatoes,cover and cook

When the tomatoes become soft.Add the cooked dal.Add in some water if desired.

Cook till it comes to a boil.Add in the lemon juice.Check for salt and remove from flame.

Serve hot with plain rice.This tastes good with jeera rice too.