Indian lentil dish - Tadka Dal

I am so happy to find this recipe, I like lentil so much :) It is very nutritive, which is widely used in Indian cuisine.

Ingredients
250g yellow lentil* - washed & drained
1.2 litres water
1 tsp turmeric powder

3 tbsp vegetable oil
Pinch of asafoetida (replace by 1/2 diced onion)
2 green chillies slit lengthwise
1tsp cumin seeds
10-12 curry leaves
4 cloves of garlic - sliced or roughly crushed

2 tomatoes roughly chopped
Salt to taste
pinch of sugar
juice of half a lemon

Chopped coriander for garnish


*Can use red lentil


Instructions
1. In a medium sauce pan, add yellow lentil with the water and turmeric powder. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to a medium, partially cover with lid and cook for 35-40 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Stir a few times through the cooking process. Add a little more water if the mix is too thick. Cool slightly and roughly mash with a potato masher or a hand blender and set aside.

Note: If you use red lentil, you just need about 15mins to cook throughly the lentil

2. In a heavy bottom sauce pan heat the oil at medium heat, add the asafoetida (onion), slit green chillies and cumin seeds; fry for a few seconds. Now add the curry leaves and garlic continue to fry for 5 seconds.

3. Put in the tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes. At this stage, tip in the cooked lentil and stir well. Season to taste, add a pinch of sugar, simmer gently for 2-3 minutes on a low heat stirring halfway through. Turn the heat off and add lemon juice and garnish with coriander. 

Serve hot with your choice of bread or plain rice.

Note: If you’d like the dal to be thicker simmer for an additional 2 minutes without a lid making sure to stir well.