It's hard to satisfy my folks with any north Indian dish, however delicious it is. I decided to give a south Indian touch to dal fry knocking most north Indian elements off the recipe and here is how I did and it tasted pretty good.
Ingredients:
- Toor dal - 4 fist full
- Tomatoes - 3 large ones chopped
- Ginger - lemon sized chopped
- Curry leaves - few of them
- Corriander leaves - a bit of it
- Green chilies - 3-5 of them
- Coconut - a bowl of it shredded
- Cumin seeds - few of it
- Mustard seeds - few of it
- Asafoetida - a bit
- Oil - one tea spoon
- Ghee - two table spoons
- Turmeric - a bit of it
- Salt - to taste
Method:
So you can see there's no garam masala, no dhaniya powder, no chili powder, no onions, no garlic...and there is asafoetida and coconut...which gives it a south Indian certificate. It's also called thovae (tho-way) in Kannada.
Pressure cook dal with a bit of oil, salt and turmeric and keep it aside. Heat 2 table spoons of ghee in a vessel, add mustard seeds and wait till it bursts. Add cumin seeds and then asafoetida and then green chilies and fry. Add chopped tomatoes, curry leaves, a bit turmeric and required salt, fry the mixture for a couple of minutes and then pour the cooked dal. Add required amount of water, shredded coconut and leave the mixture to boil. Once it begins to boil slightly add ginger and allow the mixture to boil well. Just about a couple of minutes before switching off the fire add chopped corriander.
Goes well with hot rice and a spoon full of ghee.
